


Don’t Take Anything Less

by NarryEm



Series: Fantasy Alternate Universes/Multiverse [4]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Alternate Universe - Future, Blood Drinking, Blood and Gore, Bloodplay, Fluff, M/M, Multi, Rimming, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-12
Updated: 2014-09-12
Packaged: 2018-02-17 02:06:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 29,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2292959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NarryEm/pseuds/NarryEm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a world where humans are enslaved to the vampires and other supernatural creatures, Niall is an oddball who refuses to buy any humans.  It all changes when his best mates buy him Harry as his four-hundredth birthday present against his will.  As fate would have it, he is stuck with the responsibility of keeping a human alive and naturally, he is plagued by the unusual scent of Harry’s blood and the secrets it carries.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don’t Take Anything Less

**Author's Note:**

> Title from "Animal" by Muse.
> 
> Um this has a sprinkle of plot thrown in with a splash of character development and lots of sexy times. I don't know where the inspiration came from other than the fact that I had been watching True Blood and Game of Thrones. And also sobbing over the ending of The Vampire Diaries because I'd rewatched season 5.

_he monsters that every child dreams of, well, they are real.  The vampires who thirst for blood as long as they live, the strange men who turn into beasts and howl at the full moon and the witches who concoct potions that can illicit emotions as trifle as anger to something as potent as love, they all have co-existed in the world in reluctant peace.  However, peace could not be maintained forever.  Underneath the calm surface churned a strong desire to crawl up to the top and stop living under false pretences.  In the beginning of twenty-second century dawned on the world, the supernatural creatures who have always been under wraps revolted and succeeded in enslaving the entirety of the humanity.  Half the population of humans fell victim to the revolution and the remaining were severely punished for their past wrongdoings._

_Now, in the twenty-third century, humans are kept in chains, both physical and magical, and serve under those who are not human.  Most are bred as pets or slaves and sold with a mediocre price tag.  Amongst all that are inhuman, vampires are notorious for keeping multitudes of humans as their food source and even having sexual relationship with the humans.  Many of those who are the top of the human slave trade of vampires and they usually use unconventional methods to train the humans, which includes torture and a bit of help from the witches._

_Its commonplace in the present to see humans displayed about in one’s house as if they were mere decoration; the pretty ones are sold for a hefty price and supernatural creatures want them just as a human used to want a pet puppy or kitten.  After all, humans are as manipulative as they are cruel.)_

 

 

Niall sighs deeply, glaring at the enormous red velvet cake.  The icing is a mix of cream cheese and artificial blood and the red colouring seems to be from blood as well, that much he can sniff out.  It’s his four hundredth birthday and his best mates had thought to throw a massive birthday party for him.  It had to include a bloody actual magic show and a cake that Louis carried in, stumbling along the way even with his vampiric grace. 

“You guys are imbeciles,” Niall says gruffly, to which Louis responds with a kissy face.  Zayn looks bored and his blue-black wings are twitching impatiently.  Zayn is a shapeshifter who prefers the form of birds and he hates being still for too long.  He also likes the option having his wings in his human form as a way of self-defence and a quick getaway.  Liam is the alpha of the local werewolf pack and has a surprisingly gentle heart.  Still, Niall doesn’t like the fact they half the socialites in London are making a uselessly huge fuss over something as trivial as his birthday.

“Oh you will thank us for your gift,” Louis promises, a smug smile already on his face.  Niall can only guess that he is up to something.  He bites into his slice of cake, savouring the rich flavour of the A-negative blood, his favourite.  The modern technology truly is amazing, and he likes the fact that it can imitate the different blood types.  He is about to thank them for the cake when he bites into something solid.

Niall spits it out and to his distaste, it’s an address chip.  He can’t tell where the destination is from examining it with his eyes only.  He does, however, know his friends very well and this can only be the address to some vampire strip club or something of the sort.

“Really guys?” he asks, exasperated.

“Only the best for the birthday boy,” Liam says. 

“Well, if you’re in on it,” Niall deduces, “it can’t be something _too_ horrible.”

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

Niall shouldn’t have been more careful with his words.

His friends, without fail, turn out to the absolute worst.  His hover-bike is parked in front of a slave store and in the window display, there are three nubile bodies stood there, bodies naked and eyes blank.

“I am so going to murder Louis,” Niall mutters to himself.  It’s got to be that bastard because Louis is too good with his words.  Bressie, his sire, has been nagging him about getting a human slave for centuries now, even back in the days when human trafficking was underground dirty work and the slavers had to watch out for human authority figures.  But in the current government system where vampires, weres and witches reign supreme, human slave trade is very much encouraged.

As if picking up on his though, Niall’s comm ring vibrates with the incoming call.  He answers the call and watches as the holo-screen pops up.

“Hiya, so I see that you’ve gone to your gift!” Louis exclaims happily.

“You are so dead,” Niall growls.  Louis, bless his undead heart, doesn’t even blink.

Louis pulls a stern look, which looks so out of place on him.  “Bressie will be right cross with you if you don’t return with a pet.  And he’ll know because we’re raiding your blood-liquor closet!  Damn, Niall, when you’ve got an aged Sangréal from 2197, you share with your best friends, not hoard it like some ungrateful social hermit.”

“Hermit?” Niall explodes.  “Excuse me if I don’t wanna go out to every blood bar in the damn city every night and eat half the population like a whore, Lou.  I, unlike you, have standards when it comes to those things.”

Louis tsks him.  “And by standards you mean that you drink that nasty synthetic blood because you’re like that sparkly abomination some author dreamt up.  Whatever, Bressie just told me that if you don’t come back with a cute little human arse to shag, you’ll regret it.”

Niall scoffs.  As his maker, Bressie has a certain hold over him but he doubts that Bressie will truly hurt him.  After all, the man proclaims that he turned Niall because he was like a little brother to him and wanted to protect him at all costs.

The shop isn’t at all like what Niall expected it to look like.  Louis has an eccentric taste so Niall shouldn’t have thought that all pet shops looked like a replica of some dungeon/cave sort of thing.  The store is decorated quite elegantly, if Niall is being honest.  The room is softly lit with pseudo candlelight that isn’t glaringly bright like the normal ones.  The walls are painted a soft shade of periwinkle and the floor is a shaggy rug that expands all the way from the entrance to the end.  After the reception area is a narrow corridor with doors on either side.

“Good evening, sir,” a woman who was probably turned in her thirties greets him.  “I guess you are Mr Niall Horan?”

“Yes,” Niall grits out.

“Please, come this way.  We’ve been told by your friends what kind of pets you may like.  Described as per your friends, you are carefree, compassionate, and outgoing.  They said that you are probably not into BDSM or anything too kinky.”

Niall feels as though his cheeks would heat up if he were still mortal.  He nods, nonetheless.

“Excellent.  There are four, maybe, five pets that fit the description.  Of course, they are trained to act more like slaves if you wish.  Whatever you wish is their command to uphold.”

The first room they go to has a small adolescent girl with dark blonde hair and baby blue eyes.  Niall doesn’t like the frail look of her so he says no.  In fact, he keeps saying to the other three candidates as well.

“Very well then,” the woman says.  “We will go to the speciality section then.”

The speciality section is significantly different from the previous area.  For one, the walls are a striking combination of red and black, accented with the white doors.  It almost hurts Niall’s eyes to look at the start contrast and he realises that the humans in this part of the store are kept in one massive room.

And two of them are snogging without any clothes on.

“What the fuck?” Niall blurts out.

“Oh pardon me, sir, they weren’t informed that a customer will be visiting this room today.  These are the ones that we train to serve sexually and they are encouraged to play amongst themselves, you see.  Calum, Luke, stop playing this instant.”

The two humans (who look no older than eighteen) stop at once and pout.  Niall notices the dark haired one retracting his hand from the blond one’s backside.

“I think that Harry should take to your liking.  Harry!”

At the command, a curly haired brunette comes forth.  He has pale skin, wide green eyes and dimples when he smiles slightly at Niall.

“This is Harry, one of our finest.  He is nineteen and he can be obedient if you tell him to be.  He is also a rare breed because his bloodline hasn’t been touched by any vampires.”

Some vampires can be born and there is only a handful of those lineage left in the world.  Those born vampires tend to be snobby and sometimes mate with humans for fun.  That piques Niall interest instantly because a pure-blooded human means that his taste will be exquisite.

“How much?” Niall hears himself say.

“Oh, don’t worry about the cost.  Your friends have taken care of it already.  So you wish to take Harry home?”

“Yes.  But first, give him something proper to wear, something other than those ratty old joggers.”

“Of course, sir.”

Niall has to wait ten minutes before Harry is brought out to the reception area.  His hair looks freshly washed and trimmed and there is perfume rubbed onto his skin.  Niall dislikes the scent immediately but he takes his leave anyway.

“So, Harry,” Niall says as he climbs onto his bike.  He realises that it was a stupid choice to take is bike rather than the car.  He motions for Harry to sit behind him and the seat expands. “What kind of things do you like?”

“Um, I don’t know.  I’ve been at the store ever since I was a little kid ‘cause my family was poor,” Harry squeaks out.  “I liked working at the kitchen.”

“Good.  I had my kitchen remodelled at my friends’ request so you can do whatever you want there.  And if you need more ingredients, just ask Josh to fetch it for you and Josh is the virtual helper I installed in my house.  He can help you with anything.  You are not to leave the house without my permission either.”

“Okay.”

The rest of the ride home is spent in silence, the entire three minutes of it.  Niall prefers to run on his feet but he can’t wait to go back home and smash Louis’ skull to the nearby hard surface.  That little shit is going to pay for this.

When Niall returns to his house, he finds it still intact.  There is a large splotch of wine on the carpet in the drawing room but otherwise, his house is relatively clean.  He’ll have Josh deal with that as well as the scraps of wrapping paper that’s strewn out everywhere.

“Aww he’s cute!” Louis practically squeals.  He leaps in front of them and Harry jumps a bit, startled at the intrusion.  “What’s your name, Curly?”

“H-Harry,” Harry replies, hiding behind Niall.  Niall almost laughs at the gesture because Harry is at least two inches taller than himself.

“He smells different,” Liam points out, and Zayn nods.  He glides across the room using his wings and Harry startles even more.

“Wha-what is he?” Harry asks, peering at the raven wings behind Zayn’s back.  “Are they real?”

Zayn glares at him.  “Obviously the kid’s been locked up in the store for too long.  Haven’t you heard about weres or shapeshifters?”

Harry shakes his head slowly.  “Fucking hell.  Niall, why did you bring back an idiot?  Is he just for sex then, is that it?”

Harry blushes, his entire face going tomato red. Niall speaks up for Harry’s behalf. “He is not.  A pet’s primary function is to provide his owner with blood whenever it’s convenient, yeah?  Other things can come along with time.”

Louis pouts.  He reaches out with his hand to stroke at Harry’s hair.  “His hair is soft.  And I know for a fact that you like to pull on hair, Niall, so you’ll have fun with this one.  Have fun with him, me, Zayn and Liam paid quite a bit for him, you gramps. We’re gonna leave before you mangle our bodies and reassemble them in anatomically incorrect ways.  Love ya!”

And just like that, Niall finds himself alone in the mansion with Harry.

“You never mentioned that you live in the proper rich part of the city,” Harry mumbles.

Niall shrugs.  “Doesn’t matter.  I’m older than dirt so savings and interest really added up.  My friends are idiots who don’t know what to do with their money, it seems.”  Niall turns around to tell Harry to choose a room to sleep in.  Or that was his intention.

The brunet has begun to tug off his t-shirt and his hair does look adorable all rumpled up like this.  He’s quite skinny and Niall makes a mental note to order Josh to order some fatty foods for Harry’s sake.  He doesn’t know a lot about human pet stores but the diet must be strict as hell.

“What the fuck are you doing?” he inquires.

“I’m a pet, so you should use me accordingly, sir.”

“First of all, it’s Niall, no ‘mister’ or ‘sir’ malarkey.  Second, I just said that I’m not gonna do that this early didn’t I?”

“You’re not even gonna feed on me?” Harry asks, his eyes gone wide and wet.  He presses himself closer to Niall and bares his throat to Niall.  Niall can see the pulse thumping underneath the pale, nearly translucent skin and his mouth waters automatically.  And he’s only a vampire who is driven by the basest of instincts so.

He grips the back of Harry’s pale smooth neck and tugs his neck before his sinks his fangs into the flesh.  Harry lets out a small gasp but other than that, he shows no sign of pain or discomfort.  Niall can only deduce that the people back at the pet store fed off of him often to ‘train’ him.  A pure human’s blood does indeed taste heavenly, or as close to heaven as a creature like Niall can obtain.  The rich taste of it sings to Niall and he has to remind himself that humans can’t recuperate as fast as the supernatural.  Reluctantly, he lets go with his teeth and licks up the wound to help heal it.

Glancing down, he sees that Harry’s gone half-hard from the feeding.  It’s not uncommon since vampire saliva contains a lot of endorphin as a part of the predatory benefits.  Humans who are preyed upon by vampires way too often can become addicted to it turn into lifeless dolls.

“Go take care of yourself,” Niall snarls out, turning on his heel.

“Wouldn’t you rather take care of it for me?” Harry coaxes, and Niall can hear the faint rustle of fabric as Harry strokes himself through the material of his trousers.  “The more the merrier, isn’t that how the saying goes?”

“Shut up and go find a room to sleep in!”

 

And Niall shouldn’t have expected that Harry would give up so easily.  He retires to his bed and makes sure that the thick sun-proofed drapes are closed and even closes the dark forest green curtains on his canopy bed.  After the events of tonight, Niall wants to sleep for the next thousand years or so.  He snuggles into his duvet and closes his eyes.  One of the best perks of being a blood sucker is that he has almost complete control of his own body; he falls asleep almost instantly.

But the sweet spell of slumber doesn’t linger as long as he’d like.  Niall finds himself suffocating some weight.  He opens his eyes and his sight zeroes in on a slim figure perched atop his lap even in the pitch darkness.  It’s Harry (of course) who is naked and his head is cocked sideways like an inquisitive kitten.

“Harry what the fuck are you doin’ here?” Niall grumbles, his thoughts still jumbled from sleep.  “I told ya t’ go sleep in your own room elsewhere.  Sod off.”

“But Niall,” Harry drags out his name.  “I’m specialised in pleasing my masters sexually, which means that I’m used to having sex with others whenever, wherever.”  To prove his point, Harry rubs his bare cock onto Niall’s duvet-covered one.  Never in his immortal life has Niall been equally turned on and annoyed to this magnitude.

“You are also my pet as of yesterday and a pet should obey his master.  Unless you fancy having your blood sucked out drop by drop until death, that is,” Niall smiles, and from his mates’ description he knows that he looks like an angel right before he flies off to destroy the world.  And also, he purposefully plays up his vampire, letting his fangs lengthen even further and his eyes glow a vivid shade of blue-red.

“Do it then, better than dying old and wrinkly,” Harry defies.

Niall covers his face with his palms.  This is not the way he had imagined things to go.  Trust him to pick out the horniest pet the store had in stock.  Is it too late for a refund or an exchange?

“Josh, Niall calls out and pushes Harry off his lap not unkindly.  Harry lands on the thick carpeted floor clumsily with a loud ‘ooomphh!’.

“Yeah?” a short brunet with yummy arms appears.  It’s a hologram, and Josh’s image flickers a bit and he is quite translucent.  He can appear in a much more solid form but Niall has jolted him out of his recharging period. 

“Search if I can return this pesky pet.  And also, send word to Louis that he will be dead in the near future.”

Josh rolls his eyes.  “This is the four hundred twenty-eighth time that you threatened him in this month alone.  Your words have lost their meaning long ago, pal.  Are you sure you aren’t in love with him?  Don’t people have a saying about the figurative thin line between love and hate too?”

Niall scoffs.  “Do it anyway.  Maybe this time he’ll hear it instead of deleting it so that he can go back to fucking Nick.  I don’t know what he sees in that beanpole of a warlock anyway.”

Josh smirks.  “Jealous much?  You know what they say: for every partner you gain, you lose two friends.”

“That only applies to the ever-wandering affections of human, you eejit.”  And it’s true; Louis has been Niall’s best mate ever since he found the then-newly turned vampire in the slums of Leeds and took him under his wing.  Zayn sort of happened as a package deal with Liam, who used to be such a sweet and innocent wolf pup.  These days, he doesn’t blush at the mention of anything remotely sexual because of Zayn. (Although, if Niall and Louis keep ribbing him, he still does blush prettily.)

“Report your findings already, you overpriced smart house.  I knew that I shouldn’t have got that personality upgrade.”

“You can return the merchandise at any time but only if you’ve find a physical defect.  Being horny isn’t listed in their physical defects so it seems like you are stuck with Harry.”

Niall pouts.  “Can you look up some slave markets that will take Harry?  I don’t care how much I’ll get out of him since I’ll be able to pay back my friends either way.”

At the mention of being sold back, Harry’s green eyes go impossibly rounder with fear and he latches onto Niall’s leg.  Niall startles and shakes his leg but Harry has his arms and legs wrapped around his calf tightly.

“Please don’t send me back to a slaver! I swear I’ll stay out of your way from now on.  I’ll cook and clean and whatever else you need me to do.  I won’t come on to you unless you order me to either.”

The fear and desperation in Harry’s voice makes Niall worry a bit.  Just what kind of horrible things to those people do to train their humans?

“What happened while you were in the store, Harry?” Niall asks, stroking his hair.  It seems to have a calming effect so he keeps doing it.  Eventually, Harry loosens his death grip on Niall’s leg and he is able to pick up the human and place him on the bed.  Meanwhile, Josh has gone and returned with some hot tea to soothe Harry.  Niall has no choice but to quietly scrutinise everything about Harry whilst he drinks his tea.  Harry has a habit of slouching, it seems, and that’s how Niall sees the small mark on Harry’s left shoulder at the back.

“Harry, what’s the little mark on your left shoulder?” Niall inquires.

Harry shrugs, and yelps when a bit of the tea spills over.  _Stupid clumsy humans_ , Niall muses.  “It’s a birthmark I’ve had since I was little.  I swear that it used to look fainter years ago but now it’s a solid reddish colour.”

Niall makes an agreeing sound.  The mark looks like a crescent moon and some flames that enshroud it like clouds, but it’s very smudged and blurry.  Niall traces his fingertip over it and sees that the skin is a bit raised.  To his surprise, Harry shivers slightly.

“What’s wrong?” he asks, gripping Harry’s shoulder, careful not to jostle the mug.

“It’s a bit sensitive, always has been,” Harry replies.

“Oh, sorry.”

Josh is still lingering and Niall can’t help but feel a bit annoyed.  “Don’t you have some recharging to do?” he asks, arms crossed.

“Don’t you have the big ball of fire in the sky to avoid?” Josh matches his tone.  “I’m only the best machine available on the market.  I can go about a week without recharging in dire circumstances.  It also means that Harry won’t have much work to do, sorry kiddo.  Everything in this house is controlled by me, as programmed by Niall to suit his tastes.  And since he is a vampire who isn’t susceptible to the environment, I’ve made the adjustments so that you won’t die of a sunstroke.”

Harry grins, a genuine one where his eyes crinkle up and the dimples show.  “That’s real thoughtful of you, Josh.  Back at the store, the rooms were kept at a constant temperature regardless of the season.”  A shadow falls across Harry’s features and there is a slight twinge in Niall’s dead heart.  Which is very bizarre because Niall hasn’t felt anything like that for a long time.

“You should sleep; vampires like to sleep during daylight and go about our days during the night so you should reset your body clock to ours.  That’ll make things easier for you around here.  And no, we don’t burn at the sight of sunlight, it just bothers their heightened senses. Also, the three idiots you saw earlier at the party are my friends so I expect for you to serve them as well.  Louis is a vampire too so if he looks peaky, offer him your blood at least.  Understood?” Niall lists.

“Okay,” Harry mumbles.  “I’ll go back to my room now.  Sorry for disturbing you.”

As soon as Harry steps into the hallway Josh scolds Niall.  “That was harsh, even for you.  Is you douchepants-ness part of the vampire package or a side effect of being you?”

Niall glowers at the projection.  “Shut up and obey me for once, will ya?  I’m gonna go back to sleeping like the dead—pun intended—so leave me the fuck alone.”

“Yes sir.  Sweet dreams, then.” Josh blows a kiss before he blinks out.

Niall sighs.  He doesn’t know exactly how, but he knows that his life just got more interesting for the better _and_ worse.

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

“Rise and shine, Mr Horan.  It’s a glorious night and I’ve already let you sleep ‘til eleven!” Josh’s voice chirps right into Niall’s ear.  Niall mumbles a few choice expletives and Josh only chuckles at him.

“Niall, I made chocolate chip pancakes!” a different voice chimes in.  The voice doesn’t register in Niall’s sleep-addled brain for a few seconds.  When it does click, he pulls back the covers and scowls at Harry.

“I don’t need to eat, not really.  So you can help yourself to whatever you’ve made,” Niall half-orders.  He still isn’t used to having a human to satisfy his every whim.  He doesn’t know how Bressie does it because that chap’s got three human pets living with him the last time Niall went to visit.  And that doesn’t stop him from going to blood bars every other night just like some other vampire he knows.

“Oh,” Harry whimpers, his expression falling to that of a kitten whose milk has been stolen away from it.  Niall nearly regrets being so mean to Harry but humans have to learn their place, right?

“I’ll eat some since you troubled yourself,” Niall corrects himself.  “And I want some blood heated up to body temp, got it?”

“Okay!” Harry replies, and the smile he give is simply dazzling.  Either Harry is the most reckless human he’s ever met or his years at the store has dulled his instincts for self-preservation.

Shoving those thoughts away from his mind, Niall pads into his en suite bathroom.  The room is something of a masterpiece.  He’s had it renovated so that there is a drainage system along the entire floor.  Mirrors face him from all directions and there is a genuine marble bathtub at one end.  The entire ceiling is also rigged to act as a showerhead, so it’s like having a personal rainfall whenever he is having a shower.  His toiletries float around in a small hover-tray so he never has to search for anything.  The shower helps wash away the drowsiness and draws more attention to his empty stomach.

After the shower, Niall dresses in a pair of jeans only and walks downstairs.  He has to admit, Harry is good at cooking.  The scent of pancake batter, chocolate, and blood wafts into his nose and his mouth waters automatically.

“So you do know how to obey orders,” Niall comments offhandedly and smirks inwardly at the lively blush that springs up Harry’s cheeks.  He doesn’t say anything as Harry hands him a mug full of AB-positive blood.  He really needs to stock up on A-negative blood if this was all Harry could find in the storage.

“Uh-oh,” Josh says out of the blue.  Niall doesn’t even bat an eyelash whilst Harry jumps three feet into the air.  The air in the kitchen is filled with the wild beatings of Harry’s fragile little human heart.  “You got that murderous look in your eyes.  What is it this time.”

“Mur— _hic_ —murderous?” Harry stutters.  Niall glances at the human and discovers a half-eaten piece of pancake perched on top of his fork.  Poor thing must have choked on it.

“He means,” Niall looks disapprovingly at the hologram, “that I look pissed because Josh didn’t buy more of my favourite blood type until the very last minute.  Go scoot and order some A-neg then, you useless expensive piece of technology.”

Josh sticks out his tongue not unlike a five-year-old before he vanishes.  Niall’s chair rocks dangerously but he only rolls his eyes at that.

“You can eat without worryin’ ‘bout me rippin’ your throat out,” Niall asserts.  “I haven’t killed a human in way too long but that doesn’t mean that me fangs are itchin’ to tear out some throats.”

“Gee thanks,” Harry retorts.  “That makes me feel loads better.”

Niall chuckles.  “That’s the first time you really talked back to me.  I like it.”

Harry’s head is tilted to the side and Niall really has to check himself before he does something stupid.  “Niall,” he trails off, but it’s evident that he’s got a burning question.

“You can ask anything.  You’re not really a slave, more like a human companion without the voluntary aspect of it.”

“Why’d you pick me?  There were so many other pretty humans in the front rooms.  And much more obedient than me.”

Harry visibly shrinks back when Niall lets out a snarl by accident, the inhuman kind that makes the skin on back of Harry’s neck crawl and his stomach drop.  “No human of mine is allowed to have a low self-esteem,” Niall states in a calmer tone.  “I dunno what kind of bullshit you’ve suffered in that shithole but you are cute, y’ oughta know.  The slavers don’t take in just any humans, from what I heard.  They know that the pretty ones sell for a high price.  And really, do I need to give you a justified reason?  I liked ya and I bought ya, simple as that.  This ain’t some romance novel so you’re gonna have to live with that.”

Niall pretends he doesn’t see Harry’s shoulders droop as he mumbles out an ‘okay’.

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

The next few weeks pass by in a mix of awkward conversations and wonderful meals.  Niall hasn’t fed from Harry since the first day, preferring to drink the synthetic blood whose taste pales in comparison to Harry’s.  He finds himself recalling the taste of Harry’s blood way too often and every time he does, he can’t help but notice that Harry tasted worlds apart from the humans he had fed upon.

He is just lounging about in the drawing room when he sees a dark speckled owl fly in to the space outside the French windows.  Niall rolls his eyes before he goes to open the windows and let the bird in.  The owl has a melange of dark brown feathers on its body but its wings are mostly black.  It enlarges and its shape contorts and shimmers until it turns into Zayn.  Niall has never understood the magic of shapeshifters and it still confuses him that they can’t conjure up clothes in between forms.  Niall has long gotten used to Zayn and Liam’s frequent nudity so he doesn’t say anything.

“You know there is such a thing called vehicles,” Niall smirks.

Zayn shrugs.  “I like flying much better.  Human form is too restricting. The only times I’m in this form is to eat, deal with annoying fuckers like you, and for fucking.  Picking at mouse fur is seriously disgusting too, and don’t even get me started on feathers.”

Niall fakes a disgusted face.  “I never needed to know that.  Is Liam coming ‘round too?  Haven’t seen him in days.”

“Yeah, later.  There’s a pack meeting so I was kicked out.  Well, Liam made it sound nicer because he’s Liam but yeah.”  Zayn walks straight to the fridge to take out a bottle of beer.  Niall can’t get drunk as a vampire so all the alcohol that he has is strictly for his non-vampire friends.  He has gotten similar effects from overfeeding a few times but he will admit to missing the ability to get truly shit-faced for a good time with his mates.

“Where’s that cute little human of yours?” Zayn asks, his eyes searching around the open space.

“I think he’s not used to being around new people still,” Niall rolls his eyes.  “I fed off of him only once too and Bressie keeps taking the piss and it got annoying the first time he mentioned it.  I don’t wanna put myself at the risk of accidently killing him, y’know?”

Zayn smirks.  “I thought older vamps had better control?”

Niall gives him a flat look. “He smells good because he’s purely human or some shit.  Best drink I ever had, I can say that much.  I want to ask Louis’ Nick about that stuff since he is a big history bookworm.”

“Ha, what happened to the warlocks not being the biggest fan of vampires, with your ability to defy the nature’s course,” Zayn points out.  “Louis does have a pretty arse but that alone couldn’t have been the deciding factor.”

“Cheating nature, my arse,” Niall snorts.  “Warlocks with enough power can slow down their ageing with potions and herbs.  You can’t live forever without having some friends and I’ve learnt as much.  Are we gonna gossip all day like women or what?  Let’s go out to a club.”

Zayn curls his lip up in disgust.  “Too many idiots drunk on alcohol there.  There is nothing wrong with having a night in and watching some vintage films like _The Avengers_ or _Thor_.”

Niall will never understand Zayn and Liam’s obsession with the antique films from the twenty-first century.  The quality of the films are abysmal and the idea of gods and whatnot never made sense to Niall.  But he grimaces and queues up the movies just for Zayn.  He swears that Zayn has grown co-dependent on Liam, which isn’t too surprising since Liam is an Alpha and even non-wolves can feel compelled to listen to them with the strong hierarchy system.

Right now, he has no choice but to watch Zayn make himself comfortable on the sofa as he sips some beer and watches the films.  An entire wall turns into a screen and the opening scenes comes into view.  Josh has appeared and is watching the film— _Avengers_?—even though his database has the plots and whatnot of every movie that has ever existed.

About ten minutes into the film, Niall smells Harry near the staircase.  When he turns around to face the human, he makes a high-pitched squeaking sound.

“Oh, hi there, Harry,” Zayn offers casually, his round brown eyes fixed upon Harry’s figure.  Harry might miss it, but Niall sees the way the shapeshifter’s nostrils flare as he sniffs out the human.  Niall can tell that Zayn is impressed now that he’s gotten a second sniff and it does take a lot to impress him, especially given his arrogant composure.

“H-hi,” Harry stutters.  He blushes a mouth-watering shade of red when he sees that Zayn is buck-naked.  Zayn, as per usual, has no regard for his nudity and how Harry must be suffering from an acute secondary embarrasement.

“I’m Zayn in case you don’t remember,” he introduces himself, smiling warmly.  Having known him for so long, Niall can recognise it when Zayn is faking emotions.  Right now, at least, Zayn seems to be genuine.  Maybe his curiosity in Harry runs deeper than Niall first assessed.

“Nice to meet you Zayn,” Harry all but mumbles and moves to stand in Niall’s shadow.  Niall really has to teach him not to mumble.

“Wow you weren’t kidding about him being so shy,” Zayn comments blatantly and Niall almost feels bad for Harry when he flinches.

“Gotta be ‘cause he was locked up in that slave store for so long,” Niall shrugs.  “Me and Josh are still teaching him how to live a normal life.

Zayn snickers.  “’Normal’, you say?  I believe it’s quite impossible for humans to live normally in this time; none of them have been living as they could have ever since we took over, remember? You should, more so than others, since you were there and an integral part of it.”

Niall grits his teeth.  He doesn’t miss the way Harry’s eyes widen and his heart thumps loudly and deliciously in his ribcage. 

“I wouldn’t call it integral,” Niall rectifies Zayn.  “Just because my maker was one of the leaders of that revolution ages ago doesn’t automatically make me a head figure for what’s happened.  Bressie told me to do some shite and things really did happen the way we wanted it to happen.  Cut through gory deaths and psychological manipulations and we have us supernaturals ruling the world.”

He glances over to Harry’s direction.  To his credit, Harry holds on to his previous expression.  “You aren’t scared of a little history lesson, are ya?”

Harry shakes his head.  “I don’t know much, not really.  All I know is that humans are all slaves and that my family was under someone’s care.  I don’t even remember a lot about them.  I knew vaguely about the whole revolution thing from the whispers at night or the owners mentioning it casually.  Honestly, I’m just glad to be alive.”

That coaxes a laughter out of Niall.  “Glad to be alive?  Being human isn’t so grand in this world.  See the film on the screen?  Even humans back in the twenty-first century wanted to escape their reality and that’s why antiques like those exist.  Humans are too greedy and they never knew where to stop.  Ever since the supernaturals took over, the planet has been resurrected from the brink of death brought upon by humans.  Two hundred-odd years ago, all you heard on the news was about the crimes and how the scientists are working on the ultimate cure for the Earth.  Nowadays, things have cleaned up quite literally and most of the research goes into appliances that make for convenient living.  Not that most of us need that, it’s mainly for showing off and chest-puffing. 

“You are too naïve and wouldn’t last an hour outside my house on your own; most humans have grown to lose most of their survival instincts and all you’ve got left are the primal ones that can barely keep you alive.  Free will is a joke when it comes to your kind, truly.  Maybe it is a good thing that humans all live under strict regulations, controlled by those who understand the humankind better than humans themselves.  Life means nothing without a purpose and a human’s life may as well be the life of a convenient toy that can be replaced at will.”

A part of Niall—the part that is the run-of-the-mill arrogant vampire and icy that has kept Niall alive for four hundred years—relishes in the way Harry’s face crumples at the cruel remark.  It’s like kicking a small fluffy puppy with no reason, as humans used to say.  But the humanity that has been clinging to Niall’s subconscious for all this time hates his bluntness.  Zayn rolls his eyes and his wings twitch.

Niall stares straight at Harry, who is averting his eyes.  He sighs.  Don’t they train the humans from a young age?  Or were they taught to fear any kind of contact with the inhuman masters?

“I want you to look at me when I’m talkin’ to ya,” Niall reprimands him.  He places his fingers under Harry’s chin and  forces him to look at him.

“I apologise.  I will remember that the next time.”

“ _Amadán_ ,” Niall mutters.  Louder, so Harry can hear him and know that this is directed at him, he says, “You’re the most simple-headed person I have ever met in my long existence.  I literally just said that humans have no reasons to live other than to serve the other races’ will and all you can say is that you’ll remember to do whatever pleases me?” He ignores Zayn’s peeved look because the last thing Zayn wants to do is sit there idly as Niall goes on and on about how humans have devolved into being this stupid.  He looks equal parts utterly bored and annoyed.

“Shut up, Niall.  Have your hissy fit some other time when it’s more convenient.  I’d like to keep watching Marvel superheroes without your deepest thoughts ruining it.  And as for Harry and other humans’ stupidity, aren’t we partly at fault for that?”

Niall sticks his tongue out not unlike a petulant child.  Harry looks like he was whisked away from a death row and Niall bares his teeth at him, fangs unsheathed.  That puts the fear back in his green eyes.  He hears Zayn mutter something that is clearly not English.

“Well, fuck you too, mate,” Niall retorts.  “Just go on watching your stupid superheroes film.  I’m gonna go get a bottle of blood.”

And that is exactly what he does.  He smiles at the rows of A-negative blood filling up half the space and takes out one of them.  He puts it in the microwave to warm it up to the body temperature and takes a long sip out of it.  Science has improved a lot since the twentieth century, and there is little difference between the real live blood and this artificial one.  Niall knows that the vampires born in the last few century don’t even know what real blood straight from the vein tastes like. 

The current government has come up with all sorts of legal works in order for someone to turn a human into a vampire, or in rare cases, a supernatural into a vampire.  Consent is the number one priority and then the government officials do all sorts of background check on the potential to ensure that he isn’t a creep who just wants an army of fledglings at his disposal. Niall himself has never felt the desire to create a new-born so that won’t be a problem for him.

An intense ache slices through his entire body, setting him ablaze and for a moment, Niall’s vision goes blood red.  It’s not the first time it’s happened, tragically.  He can’t really remember because keeping track of time is a waste of time as a vampire but this is a recent development.  At random intervals, he would endure this massive ache that feels as though it is trying to chop his body in half.  The pain coils around on his heart and shoulders, dissipating in the next fraction of a second.

He blinks and finds out that he has dropped the bottle of blood and Zayn has come rushing to the kitchen.  The hardwood floor is a gruesome and exquisite sight before Niall’s eyes, splattered in red in the background of sandy brown.  Josh sighs somewhere overheard before something vacuums up the blood.

“You okay, Nialler?” Zayn asks, brows furrowed.

“’S nothing,” he shrugs it off.  A vampire coming down with mysterious illness; that ought to make the news.

He can hear Harry sneaking away to his room and he relishes it.  One more minute with that idiotic creature and he just might lose it and take it out on him.

 

 

The rest of the night goes without a hitch.  Liam, undoubtedly, drops by near midnight with a bottle of whiskey and he complains about having to shoulder the responsibility of an alpha for London’s oldest wolf pack.  Zayn, as usual, is a complete sap when it comes to his mate and they behave like a teenage couple in love.  Niall tries calling Louis a couple hundred times (“Only seventy-two times, you impatient wanker,” Josh grumbles on the seventy-second try.) but Louis seems to have turned his comm off, which can only signify a sex marathon with his boyfriend, Nick.

Niall orders for Josh to prepare some Thai noodles much to Liam’s delight.  He can play the generous host for a few more hours, or at least until they get to desert.  As a vampire, his body no longer requires nutrients gained from food but he has always loved to eat.  Besides, his vampiric senses pick up the spices and whatnot from what he eats easily and the different textures never fail to amaze him.

Zayn is scraping out the last of the peanut butter and chocolate ice cream from the tub when Liam asks, “Where’s Harry?”

Niall snorts.  “He’s in his room.  I had to teach him not to cross the line, so to speak.”

“And verbally abuse him and demean pretty much all of the human population,” Josh’s hologram chimes him.  (Niall _really_ regrets getting that personality chip installed.)

Liam’s puppy eyes are in full force when Niall begrudgingly looks into the warm brown depths.  “But Niall!  He’s probably been shut up in that store ever since he was little.  You can’t expect him to know every tiny whim of yours!”

Niall sighs, squirming under Liam’s reproachful gaze.  “He’s a human so he doesn’t have a right to protest, does he now?”

That shuts him up.  Liam is a pure-blooded werewolf, descended from one of the first werewolves so he hasn’t got a drop of human or any other supernatural blood coursing through his veins.  He can never what it feels like to be thrown onto the dirt and trampled on and treated like a plaything by anyone whom saw fit.

On the other hand, Niall _was_ the piece of rubbish thrown onto the ground, a long time ago.  The street urchins and the shop owners used to beat him up and shoo him away for the fear that his dirty and wounded face would drive away the customers.  He has always been small and was subsequently an easy target even amongst the other orphans.  And with a city full of orphans right after the Great War, the government had no way of providing for the motherless kids.

It was sheer luck that Niall was found by a fellow Irishman who happened to be wandering the dark and filthy backstreets of Mullingar.  A tiny town like that never stood a chance against the famine and plague that followed the war.  It was nearing winter, October fading into November and the thin jack and threadbare trousers that Niall had on were no match for the brutal months that were to follow.  Luckily, something about Niall sparked Niall Breslin’s interest and he ended up going home with him.

At first, Niall had suspected nothing of Bressie.  It was peculiar that the older man never awoke before sundown and that Niall never saw him kiss but surely there had to be a logical explanation for that.  Niall was well fed, had the most luxurious clothes tailored for him, and had the finest tutors lined up to teach him all that he wanted to know.

It was by dumb chance that Niall discovered Bressie’s true nature.  One night, Niall had a nightmare and he sought Bressie’s soothing embrace to shake off the tendrils of the fear that the dream had brought on.  Instead, he found Bressie in his bed with a woman with blood dripping down the side of her neck.  To both their surprise, Niall had no problem accepting the fact that his saviour was a bloodsucking creature of the night.

Once Niall reached the age of adulthood, he began to pester Bressie about becoming a vampire himself.  Bressie couldn’t keep telling him the same old excuse about experiencing the world as a human for he had done all sorts of things even from a young age as means to survive.  (Many rich man paid handsome fees to tussle about with a pretty small boy.)  Niall’s only way of convincing Bressie was with his own bare body and even that didn’t work out well all the time since Bressie was a stubborn man.  However, Niall managed to wear him down and was changed into a vampire.

Niall never thought to even ask to sever the bond between them.  Bressie was his maker and he was his fledgling; as a result, Niall couldn’t disobey a direct order.  Most vampires chose to terminate the bond because it also meant that the nagging sense of responsibility and knowing their deaths would always be with them.  Bressie wasn’t like most vampires though.  Niall was his first and only fledgling and he took the responsibility seriously.  He never stopped caring for Niall in any way possible.

He shakes off the thoughts of the past for they have no meaning in the present.  Dwelling in the past and moaning and bitching about the bygones can only result in remorse and sadness that only time can heal.

“Time for us to go then?” Liam asks timidly.  Zayn whispers something in his ear which makes Liam blush.  Zayn shucks off the sweatpants that Niall had forced on him earlier and turns into a sleek black wolf.  Liam takes off his clothes as well and places them in a drawstring bag that he ties around his calf.  He, too, transforms into a wolf, only his form is covered with short honey brown fur and is shaggy along his spine. Niall opens the back door for them, and the back yard connects to a large forest to which the wolves disappear.

Niall lets out a relieved sigh when the two masses of fur become dots and then eventually blend into the trees.

It’s maybe an hour until dawn—vampires can always track the position of the sun, out convenience, Niall supposes—so Niall orders for Josh to shut down all the blinds and draw the sun-proof curtains.  Josh grumbles on about the new system update that he needs to run and reminds Niall that he won’t be functional for the next three hours, which means that Niall has to move his own fucking hands.

He steps into his bathroom and immediately turns on the shower.  Then he changes his mind and turns it off to instead fill up the tub.  He configures the setting so that the marble bathtub will fill up with sandalwood-scented bubbles.  All he needs right now to set the mood is a bottle of hot blood, really. (Or a fit bloke who is willing to bend his neck.)  Speaking of, it has rather been a long time since he had last fucked or drank live blood.  The inside of throat tightens and dries up by reflex and his fangs itch. 

Maybe he should use Harry the way he was meant to after all.

Mind made up, Niall splashes out of the tub and haphazardly wraps a towel around his waist.  With water still dripping down his torso and onto the carpeted floor, he goes straight towards Harry’s room.  He doesn’t actually which of the several rooms Harry has taken but he can still follow faint trail of scent that everyone leaves behind.

Niall opens the door quietly and peeks inside.  It appears that Harry has fallen asleep, the dark green duvet wrapped around him like a humanoid cocoon.  Once he reaches the bed, he gently unwraps the layers of covers and looks down at Harry.  He’s wearing a pair of flannel trousers and a thin white t-shirt.  His dark chocolate curls frame his face like a wispy halo, his full lips slack in his slumber.

Niall wants to eat him up.

Without a warning, he crouches over Harry on all fours, his face looming over Harry’s pale face—a face almost as fair as a vampire’s, Niall notes.  He nuzzles his face into the crook of Harry’s neck, basking in the warm scent that emanates from the pulse point.  Harry lets out a whispery laugh at the sensation of Niall’s hair ticking his neck and that’s almost enough to make Niall croon at the cuteness.

He turns his head around again so that he can enclose his lips over where blood is calling out to him the most.  His fangs descend readily and he teases the spot, more for his benefit than Harry’s.  It’s in his nature to taunt his prey anyway; vampires enjoy the thrill of the hunt more than the kill itself.  After all, where is the fun in a prey that gives up and lies limp.

Harry shifts underneath Niall’s weight when Niall’s fangs apply just enough pressure to break the fragile human skin.  He doesn’t go straight for a massive bite, instead he licks up the ruby liquid beads languidly.  That earns him a choked gasp from Harry and he hears the pet’s eyes flicker open.

“Niall?” he asks drowsily.  He blinks when a drop of cooling water drops between his brows.  His pale face lights up a pretty shade of red when he realises that Niall is practically naked only with that towel acting as a barrier between their bodies.  “Niall, what are you—”

The rest withers away into a surprised outcry as Niall sinks his teeth in properly.  From multitudes of experience, Niall knows that the pain lingers for a brief moment.  A vampire’s saliva is designed so that it can prevent the blood from coagulating and also bring the victim into a false sense of security by pumping it full of endorphins and dopamine.  It usually leads to a sexual ending as well.

Surely, Niall can feel Harry’s dick swell through the layers of fabric that separate them.  He unknots the towel around his hips and then starts to tug at Harry’s trousers.  Harry emits a loud embarrassed noise and Niall has to focus on soothing the frightened lad.  He had said it himself: as a pet trained in sex, he has become accustomed to having sex every day.  But then again, that must have been limited to sex between fellow pets at the store.

Niall retracts his fangs from Harry’s neck slowly and licks up the rivulets of blood that flows out. “Are you scared that a vampire is about to fuck ya?”

Harry gulps loudly. “Y-yes.”

“Oh darlin’,” Niall croons. “There’s nothin’ you gotta worry ‘bout.  It’s not my first time doing a human so.”

He pats himself on the back for stashing lube in every room when he rummages through the mahogany nightstand.  He doesn’t hesitate before he squeezes out a generous amount on his fingers and slide one in.  Harry gasps at the tight fit, his blunt teeth digging into his plush lower lip.  Niall smirks and scoots down so that his face is level with Harry’s crotch.  Another blush creeps down Harry face, this time reaching down to his collar bones.  Niall licks a broad stripe from the base to tip, lingering at the tip to swirl the droplets of precum with his tongue as to tease Harry. 

Waves of arousal and embarrassment fill the space between them and Niall loves it.  He wills his fangs back in and sucks Harry in down to the base.  The dark nest of curls tickles his lips and he focuses on hollowing his cheeks and bobbing his head up and down.  Harry is so easy to please and Niall supposes that there must be some kind of temperament done by the store.  Not that he cares, either way.  He keeps adding fingers inside of Harry up to four and even at that Harry whimpers in an utterly needy way.

“D’ya want something more?” Niall asks devilishly.  The reply he gets is an angry glare.

“You really look like a kitten who got splashed with water,” Niall comments as he slicks up his dick with the lube.  The slightest of tremors go through Harry’s body when Niall aligns his cock with Harry’s entrance.  He’s amused by the way the ring of muscles contract around thin air.

“Unghhh!” Harry cries out when Niall finally enters him.  Niall decides to be merciful and waits for a couple minutes for Harry to adjust.  Meanwhile, he laps up the slowing flow of blood from Harry’s neck.

Once Harry has got used to the stretch and his whole body relaxes, Niall pulls out nearly all the way before slamming back in.  At first, Harry tries in vain to muffle his loud moans and shouts.  But Niall coaxes Harry to let it all out by playing dirty and aiming for the prostate every other thrust.  Being kept on edge brings out the unabashed side of Harry quite easily and Niall smirks to himself.

“Please!” Harry pleads, voice breaking in the throes of passion.  “Mor—ahhh!”

Niall stills his hips and grinds right into Harry’s spot.  “What is it Harry?  You gotta be more specific, y’know.”

“F-fuck me. . . . Harder. Please!” Harry pants out, his voice drowned out by his own moans and gasps.

“Gladly.”

Niall doesn’t bother holding back anymore.  It is going to hurt for Harry later but right now, the thoughts of impending pleasure consumes Niall.  He begins to ram into Harry’s tight arse in full vampire speed, the sound of skin slapping on skin is now reaching ridiculous proportions.  He hitches both of Harry’s thighs on his shoulder to get a deeper angle and surely enough, Harry screams in ecstasy.  Harry’s large hands fumble for something to grab onto and they soon settle on Niall’s back.  His pathetically dull nails rake down Niall’s back, barely leaving behind a mark.

“Is it better when I do this?” Niall taunts as he wraps his hand around Harry’s leaking hard-on.  Harry’s dick twitches at the contact and oozes out even more sluices of precum.

“Nngh, yes please!” Harry babbles, the rest of whatever he wanted to say dissolving into nonsensical words.

Niall speeds up his hand and also his thrusts.  A fine sheen of sweat is now covering Harry from head to toe and the smell only enhances the sweet fragrance that Harry’s blood carries.  Niall can’t help but bury his nose in the crook of Harry’s neck and inhale deeply, his own breaths sounding rugged as well.

Harry comes first, with a bitten-off cry of what sounds like Niall’s name. Harry collapses onto the bed and goes lax much to Niall’s amusement.  Niall continues to rock into Harry’s sensitive body until he climaxes as well.  He hasn’t had sex this brilliant in ages and that naturally leaves him in a plausible mood.  He pulls out slowly and flops down onto the bed on Harry’s side.

The air around them is pungent with the smell of sex, sweat, and blood. He nudges for Harry to turn over and even though he shoots Niall a confused look, he complies.

What naiveté.

Niall grabs either side of Harry’s hips and pull them up.  He delights in the surprised pant that Harry lets out.  He spreads Harry’s entrance apart and then traces the rim with his tongue.  The sounds that Harry lets out are simply delectable.  Niall licks inside enthusiastically, tasting his own cum.  Harry’s entire body shakes, still too oversensitive after his orgasm.  Occasionally, Niall lets his fangs catch at the thin skin but not so much that they break the skin.  He adds a few fingers to the mix and work them all together to bring Harry to the edge again.  Just before Harry comes, Niall detaches his tongue from Harry’s hole in favour of sinking his teeth into the inside of his pale thigh.  Harry screams hoarsely and Niall laps up both the sweet blood and the sounds.

He stops drinking in a few minutes, of course, since he doesn’t want to risk killing him just yet.  Not when his blood tastes this good.  He pricks the tip of his forefinger with his teeth and rubs his blood on the bite wound on his thigh and then moves up to do the same for the side of his neck.  Vampiric blood has excellent healing properties and in large quantities, they can even repair cells instantly; hence the reason for a vampire’s immortality.  With an infinite supply of cells, the only way to kill a vampire is to stop the heart or decapitation.

So he just keeps on fingering Harry, curious whether or not if he could come untouched.  He receives his answer in a few minutes and yes, Harr can come just from getting fingered.  Niall feels oddly accomplished as he takes out his fingers and studies Harry’s trembling form.  His eyes stop short at Harry’s green ones because they seem to be literally burning.

 _What the fuck?_ He sits up hastily.

“That was too much,” Harry mumbles, his voice dropping octaves and there is an aura of power behind his weak voice.  It’s a raw power that Niall has never felt before and it makes shivers run down Niall’s back.

“ _What_ are you?” he questions Harry, and he knows now for sure that Harry isn’t human.  He really should have put more effort into contacting Louis and Nick.  A powerful warlock such as Nick would have been able to tell what kind of creature Harry was by simply touching him.

 

Harry slowly sits up, the sheer movement unnatural and eerie.  His actions are deliberate and calculated like that of a hunter’s.  “I don’t really know.  I’ve been sleeping for a long time in this delicate little human body and your draining of this body’s seems to have tapped into my consciousness.  ‘Harry’ is a separate yet same entity as me.  We share one body, one heart, but the soul that makes him his own person is different from mine.  Yet we are one person, trapped in the limits of this body.

”I am the part of Harry that has remained dormant until this day.  Until now, the best I could do was act as Harry’s gut instincts or a fraction of his rationale.  Thanks to you, Harry will have no choice but to acknowledge me as a part of him.  The voices you hear in the dark back corner of your mind, they are so easy to ignore and pass off as random thoughts, you know.  But when that keeps happening with an increasing frequency, you start to question your sanity.  Poor ‘Harry’ was too simple to recognise me, of course. 

“The power that courses through my veins is as ancient as this world.  Hardly anyone remembers my kind just as we had intended.  Only those who practice magic have a vague idea of what we are and what we can do.  The little birthmark on ‘Harry’ is the sole indicator that he is not fully human.  And the scent and taste of his blood, too.  My kind cannot reside in someone who isn’t purely human so that attributes to the taste as well, I suppose.  Did you enjoy ravishing this body?”

Niall grits his teeth.  His sharp fangs rip into the flesh of his lip and he can taste the dark rich blood dribbling down.  “Quite fucking around and answer my question.”

Harry leans in closer so that Niall can feel the hot breaths puffing over his face.  Harry continues to inch in until their lips are almost touching.

“ _Draconem_ ,” Harry whispers right before his eyes close and his body crumples on the bed.

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

“Fucker open the cunting door already or I swear I’ll break this newly renovated house!” Niall yells at the top of his voice as he punches on the door.

“Fuckin’ tosser,” Louis’ grumpy voice comes flowing out.  In another heartbeat, the door opens and Niall nearly falls through the threshould.

“Good evening,” Nick greet him casually, sipping his coffee.  They are both fully dressed much to Niall relief.

“I need your expertise, Nick.  It’s about dragons.”

Nick spews out a splendid amount of coffee.  He goes on to splutter and curse.

“What?” he coughs out.  Louis pats his back sympathetically and plants a quick kiss on his shoulder.

“A dragon.  I’m pretty sure ‘ _draconem’_ translates into ‘dragon’ in English,” Niall clarifies.

“But why?  All of them went extinct aeons ago and us warlocks and witches only learn about them as a part of our mythical creature lesson.”

“Yeah, no.  It seems that a dragon of our own has hitchhiked onto Harry and I might have been the one who tapped into his power.”

“Uh-huh.  I have a hard time believing you because dragons aren’t actually the massive winged lizards that breathe fire.  Well, that’s their alternate form but whatever.  Most of the time, they look as human as you and I.”

Niall rolls his eyes.  “His eyes were literally afire when he awoke within the human, Grimmy.”

The warlock’s eyes widen. “Oh yeah, they tend to do that.  Dragons are good at elemental magick but fire is their specialty what with all the legends.  Lemme go have a have a look at my grimoire.”

Whilst Nick goes to get his grimoire, Niall takes a seat in the living room sofa and Louis brings two bottles of warm blood soon after.  He can smell eggs, bacon and potatoes wafting from the kitchen so he deduces that they just ate breakfast.

“Where’d you even meet a dragon?” Louis asks.  “Thought you’d be busy shacking up with that new pet of yours.  I specifically told the storekeeper to bring you to the sex pets.”

Niall glares at the other vampires.  “Yeah, thanks for that.  Harry wanted to jump my bones all the time until I finally gave in.  And I do have a life outside of fucking a live blood bag, fuck you.”

Louis scrunches up his nose.  “No thanks.  I’d rather fuck Nicky, or have him fuck me.  Oh my god, last night Nick did this thing with his tongue where—”

Niall has to literally slap his mouth over Louis’ mouth to stop him from oversharing.  Louis is loud in both volume and personality.  That was partly why Niall wanted to help him after his maker abandoned him because so much of Louis reminded him of the human Niall before he war and everything else.

Nick chooses this moment to return to the drawing room.  He frowns at the rather intimate display in front of him before he plops down onto a love seat.  Louis immediately shakes off Niall’s hold to squeeze himself into the loveseat, practically sitting on Nick’s lap.

“So my grimoire says that the last time a dragon appeared was in the tenth century in the Midlands.  He was known to have pale skin and dark green eyes.  The witnesses said that he had a calming aura and a friendly demeanour, the opposite of what you would expect from a fearsome creature like a dragon.  He disappeared from the world without a trace in a few decades.  But a descendent, should one exist, bears the birthmark of a crescent moon and flames somewhere on his body.

“It also says that a dragon should be dealt with carefully.  Despite their human appearance, their human bodies are vessels to enormous power.  Sometimes the human body can’t endure the strain put upon by the powers that it has to exude and will break from the force.  Dragons are not known for patience either.  It’s best that you don’t interact with one really.  Their powers are not rivalled by any creature that’s alive or dead.  Now can you please tell us what’s with this ruckus?”

Instead of answering Nick’s question, Niall swirls the bottle between his forefinger and thumb.  _So Harry’s powers aren’t to be toyed with huh? What a disappointment_ , he muses.  _I guess I’ll have to find a way to bind his powers to me and learn to control it_.

“Harry’s a dragon,” he admits.

Heavy silence fills the room.  Naturally, Louis is the first one to break it.  “You’re joking, right?  How can that delicious-smelling human be a dragon?”

Niall sighs.  He crosses the room so that he can reach the couple.  Then, he places his hands on their foreheads.  Magick doesn’t come to all vampires naturally but some are created with the power to wield it effortlessly.  Fortunately, Bressie is quite good at managing it as a born vampire.  By forging a link between their minds, Niall recalls the events of last night, leaving out the lascivious details.

“You done fucked up mate,” is the first thing that Grimmy says.  “I knew you were trouble when you tried to eat me but damn, this tops it all.  Do you even realise what you’ve done, drinking the blood of a dragon?”

“Nope,” Niall shakes his head.  “It tastes rather fantastic, if that makes up for whatever horrible fate that awaits me.”

Nick covers his face with his hand in an exasperated manner, sighing loudly. “The blood of a dragon is saturated with raw power, idiot!  You’ll soon start to notice some changes within your body, if you haven’t already that is.”

Right then, Niall’s vision goes blurry.  It’s that thing again.  Pain zaps through him as his vision is soaked in blood-red and the pain blooms hotter around his heart and shoulders.  He can’t stop the sharp gasp from escaping his lips, nor can he prevent his body from collapsing and sprawling out on the floor.  He can hear Louis’ frantic and worried voice but it’s all distorted like he’s being held underwater . . . .

 

 

Niall opens his eyes to a different sight.  He is laid out on a bed and the air smells like Louis and Nick.  So he’s still at Louis’ then.  There is a bottle of blood on the nightstand and Niall snatches it and guzzles it down without a second thought.  The pain . . . it was more intense than before and the sheer force of it had knocked him out this time.  Who knows just how much it can escalate?

Just then, the door opens and Louis comes in with Nick in tow.  For some bizarre reason, he can sense fear emitting from the warlock.

“What are _you_?” Nick asks bluntly.

Niall rubs at his eyes.  He feels groggy and wishes for another bottle of blood.  “What kind of question is that?”

Louis looks as confused as Niall feels.  Nick is known for his bluntness but this is far beyond that.  There is also determination in Nick’s hazel-green eyes. He walks up to the side of the bed and sits down promptly.

“No one knows what the fuck is goin’ on apart from ya so start talkin’,” Niall presses.

“How long has this thing been going on for?” Nick queries.

“Dunno, a few months at most I reckon.” Niall shrugs.

“And what kind of pain do you feel?”

“Kinda like I’m burning. And it’s the worst around me heart and shoulders.  Now will you explain what’s happenin’?”

Nick sighs.  “Something unheard of, that’s for sure.  It seems like your house is the freak central at the mo to be honest.  First you have a dragon as a pet and now you’ve an awakened soul of some kind of demon.”

“Come again?” Niall blinks slowly.

“Demon,” Nick enunciates.  “Do I have to spell it out for you?”

“Demons don’t exist.  If they did, the scientists would have found them out a long time ago.  Or even stupid humans would have stumbled across them.”

“Demons are elusive by nature.  Only the most reckless and skilled magick users contact them and sometimes bind them into a contract.  The types of contract that a demon forms depends on the needs and other circumstances.  And somehow you were born with the soul of a demon inside your body.  Normally, when that happens the human conscience is erased rather quickly.  You shouldn’t have completed your transformation into a vampire with that kind of power.  And yet here you are, a vampire with a demon’s soul.  Very un-alive and well.”

“Bullshit.  This has all got to be bullshit.  Harry being a dragon is ridiculous enough as is and now you’re tryin’ t’ tell me my headaches mean that a demon is awakening inside of me?  You’ve gone mad from the spells you’ve concocted to keep yourself young, Grimmy.”

With that, Niall scrambles out of the bed and bolts out of the house.  The night air is chilly and it feels refreshing as opposed to the air indoors.  He pushes his legs faster and faster until he’s at his limit and sprints straight to his own mansion.  He loves the fact that his home is on the outskirts of London, far away from the commotion but close enough so that he can still interact with others on a regular basis.

Harry is already up and pointlessly wandering around the house by the time Niall gets in.  He jumps a bit upon seeing Niall but quickly recomposes himself and greets him warmly.  Josh’s form is right beside him, apparently teaching him how to make devil’s food cake from the smells Niall can get.

“Hope you’re in a mood for some cake, Nialler,” Josh calls out, smiling innocently.  Niall chooses to stare him down whilst he takes out a bottle of blood and heats it up.  It’s his third bottle today already yet he still has the sensation that he is on edge.  He usually has a bottle a day and the whole thing with Harry being a dragon and him being an incarnation of a demon must have shaken him up badly.  Yeah, that has got to be the reason.

“Are you aright?” Harry asks, his eyebrows furrowed in worry.

“I should be asking you that question,” Niall smirks.  “Oh, by the way we’re going shopping in a bit.  I can’t have you walking around in those shabby drabs of yours.  You can borrow some of my clothes for going out.”

Harry smiles brightly, with the eye-crinkles and all. “Thank you, Niall!”

 

 

So in less than half an hour, Niall gets into his car with Harry.  He sets the destination to the nearest mall and the car lifts up and takes off.  Harry is easily impressed by the passing green blurs of trees and the ink-black colour of the night sky.  He chatters on about the things he and Josh talked about whilst Niall was gone. 

“Whoa,” Harry’s eyes widen visibly when he sees the shopping centre.

The entrance to the shopping centre is decorated lavishly with exotic flowers that have been genetically modified to bloom at night as well.  Fairy lights twinkle softly all over the garden and the little gate that leads to the car park.  Niall parks close to the doors and tells Harry to get out.

“Word of advice: ignore the people who gawp at you just because you’re with me and don’t even look at the price tag.  Got it?”

Harry nods.

The first shop that Niall goes to is the one that sells t-shirts and stuff.  He picks out a few basic ones and tells Harry to pick out some jeans as well.  Since it’s nearing summer, he goes to find some shorts for Harry in the store.  Ten minutes later, they emerge from the store with half a dozen shopping bags. 

“Aren’t we done?” Harry asks in befuddlement when Niall heads down the hall.  A few werewolves stop and stare at Niall then at Harry, sniffing him out.  Niall hisses low enough so that Harry can’t hear and that has the pack scurrying off.

“Nope.  As one of the socialites in London, I often attend black-tie events.  Since you are my companion, you are expected to dress up too.  I hope you don’t mind bowties or neckties.”

And Niall wasn’t kidding.  He leads Harry to his favourite suit store and has Harry measured.  Then he discusses with the tailor what kind of colours and fabrics would Harry the best.  In the end, they leave the store with an order for four different suits and a tuxedo.

“This is an overkill,” Harry protests.  “Why would you bring me to a social event?  I’m only human.”

Niall sighs.  _Stupid human_.  “They always look down their nose at me for showing up solo.  I could always ask Bressie, my sire, to come with me but he’s usually too busy to accompany me and he generally hates those things.  Nick brings Louis as they are dating and the same deal with Liam and Zayn.  So I end up going to those functions by meself and smile politely at people who will talk shit about me the moment I turn my back.”

Harry blinks a couple times and to Niall’s surprise, they fill up with tears.  “Fuck! Don’t do that here.  What are ya even cryin’ ‘bout?”

“I’m grateful,” Harry confesses.  “I’m lucky that someone like you bought me.  I thought I was going to end up as one of those older pets who’s bought by vampire bars as blood bags.”

“That’d be awful,” Niall shares.  “You’re far too pretty for that kind of demise.  Now c’mon; you haven’t lived until you’ve tried the crepes with all sorts of berries and dark chocolate sauce.”

They end up order four of those crepes because Harry likes them that much.  A couple of the vampires come by and say hello to Niall and glance at Harry curiously.  They fear both Niall and Bressie far too much to actually inquire about him.  Harry just sips his milkshake nervously until they go away.

“Better get used to it,” Niall sneers once the onlookers are out of the earshot.  “Every day is a circus show when you hang around people like me.”

“Is that because your sire is one of the leaders of the revolution?”

Niall grits his teeth.  Past is the past but it’s one hell of a clingy bitch.  “Yeah.  He’s one of The Thirteen who planned and led the revolution.  He did a hell of a job too because he was clever.  First he got other ancient vamps on his side and urged them to create more vampires.  Then he went over to the witches and warlocks because magick is a force to be reckoned with; not even the current level science can go against it full-force.  Getting the shapeshifters and weres on our side was tricky but he managed it somehow.  In the end, The Thirteen consisted of three of the oldest vampires, four witches and warlocks, three weres and three shapeshifters.  I just tagged along, is all.”

“Is that all there is to it?” Harry presses.  “That was more than just awe and admiration.  They were scared of you.”

Niall rolls his eyes.  “Being Bressie’s only fledgling tends to garner that sort of reaction.  Every time vampire sires a new born, his blood and power dilutes.  So I happen to have inherited massive amounts of power from him.”

Harry nods slowly, munching on the crepe thoughtfully.  “Don’t look so grim.  Hardly anyone will bring that up and my name alone will be enough protection for you.”

“Okay.”

“Good.  I wanna go to the antiques store before we head back home.  I like those hats they used to call snapbacks.  If I’m lucky, I might find some collectible from New York Mets or something.”

Harry tilts his head to the side like an inquisitive kitten.  “What’s that?”

“A sports team from centuries ago.  Professional sports fell from their popularity when the supernatural began to reign supreme.  It’s kind of impossible to play sports fairly when everyone has super strength, enhanced agility, and impeccable everything.”

“I guess that’s true.” Harry agrees.  He nearly chokes on his next morsel as Niall moves from his chair to sitting in Harry’s lap in less than half a second.

“Crap!  You scared me half to death!” Harry complains.

Niall laughs.  “This is exactly what I meant.  Utter unfairness.”

Harry squirms.  “Can you please get off?  You’re not exactly light.”

Niall pouts.  “Is this making you uncomfortable?” He wiggles his arse just to mess with the human.  To his surprise, though, he feels Harry reacting to the stimulation.

“Fuckin’ hell,” he exclaims.  “You’re easy to mess around with, aren’t ya?”

“Shu-shut up,” Harry mumbles, his cheeks tinted crimson.

“Heh, fine.  We’ll go home now.”

 

 

Once they are home, Niall throws Harry to the large leather sofa in the drawing room.  He makes a quick work of undressing Harry and then grips Harry’s half-hard cock.

“I think this needs some attention,” he smirks, caressing the underside with his thumb.  Harry takes in sharp breath and bites his lower lip until it bleaches white.

“N-nngh.  No teasing!” Harry begs just as Niall rubs at the sensitive slit.

“But that’s where the fun’s at,” Niall pouts, dipping his head down so he can taste the precum that is bubbling out from the tip.  “It’s the vampire nature, darlin’.”

Niall deliberate licks the tip of Harry’s erection is slow, feather-light motions just enough that Harry can feel it but so soft that it drives Harry insane.  The lewd sounds that Harry lets out are sumptuous and Niall really wants to eat Harry up in torturously unhurried pace.  Rather than biting into the meaty flesh of Harry’s inner thigh, Niall wills his fangs back up and takes Harry’s leaking dick into his mouth and sucks long and hard.  Harry’s breath hitches in his mouth and whines loudly.  Niall wiggles his tongue from underneath Harry’s prick and sneaks in a couple fingers into his mouth so he can wet them.  When they are wet enough, he slides on into Harry carefully.

“Ahh!” Harry cries out, pale slim fingers clutched at the hard surface of the leather sofa desperately and finding no purchase.

He keeps on sucking with various pressures and bobbing his head up and down.  From the tensing of his thigh muscles, Niall can tell that Harry is going to cum first.  So he acts fast.

“Huh?” Harry blurts out.

Niall has whipped out a cock ring out of positively nowhere and snapped it shut around the base of Harry’s cock.  It’s turning an angry shade of red with a lot of precum leaking out from the slit.

“Whassat for?’ he asks.

“You’re comin’ when you’re allowed, _pet_ ,” Niall instructs.  “Be a good boy, yeah?”

With a sly wink, Niall positions himself above Harry’s cock and sinks down in one smooth motion.  Being a vampire, he can mingle pain with pleasure at will and besides, it’s pretty much the same principle.  Harry’s fish-mouthed gasps are a serious turn-on and Niall wastes no time rising and falling upon Harry’s dick.

“Nia-Niall!” Harry whimpers. His green eyes feverish and ragged gasps interfering with his words.

“Fun, innit?” Niall taunts.  All he gets is a loud moan in reply.

Truthfully, Niall hasn’t bottomed in ages, quite literally.  The stimulation is better than he remembers and he finds himself edging closer and closer to release already.  He tries to exert the so-called vampire self-control and staves off his orgasm for a short while by gripping the base of his own cock.  Being so close to an orgasm yet not allowing himself to go to completion is a delirious sensation.  Impatient, he switches to pumping his dick so he can chase his orgasm.  He deliberately clenches hard around Harry’s cock as his comes, aiming his shaft so that some of the ejaculate reaches Harry’s chin.

“Please.” Harry begs breathlessly.  “Lemme come, please?”  His long eyelashes are clumped together from the tears and Niall hoists himself up and releases Harry from his clutch.  He then laps up the salted tears that won’t dry from Harry’s flushed cheeks whilst stroking the side of his neck.

“Shh.  All in due time, Harry.  When I say you can, that’s when.”

He feels his way down Harry’s torso as he starts to slurp noisily at the pulse that thumping wildly on Harry’s carotid artery.  The beating pulse sings out to him and Niall bites into the skin and sucks in tandem to the heartbeat; simultaneous, he takes the cock ring off and Harry chokes out heaving sobs as he comes hard.

“There’s a lad,” Niall croons, his voice muffled by the skin on Harry’s thigh.  The inside of it is smeared pinkish red from blood and sweat and honestly, Harry smells so good that Niall want to fuck him again and again until Harry can’t take it anymore.  With that in mind, he withdraws his fangs and tongues at the tight furl of muscles past Harry’s balls.  He twitches away from the stimulation but is soon restrained by Niall’s strong grip.

He taste all musky and manly down there and Niall teases Harry by licking at his sac as well.  Harry’s body jerks away from the touch instinctively but a moment later, he pushes back against Niall’s tongue eagerly.  Niall complies by licking him open with a pointed tongue.

“Oh my god, Niall!” Harry whimpers with a loud gasp.  Niall adds in a finger and swirls it around, rubbing against the walls thoroughly before he jabs at the prostate.

“So needy, so gorgeous,” he comments with his mouth off, adding a second finger.  He searches for a small bottle of lube that he stashed in the sofa and grins triumphantly when he finds it.  Pulling out his finger, he slicks them up generously with the slippery gel before he goes back in with two.  Harry is deliciously sensitive and responsive, so Niall finds himself trying out all sort of tricks.  He slips in a third finger and at the same time, traces the rim with the tip of his tongue.  The result is a broken cry from Harry and what sounds like the begging of soft sobs.

“A’ri’,” Niall acquiesces.  “I’ll fuck you now; not like I can wait any longer anyway.”

The first thrust in is blissfully tight.  Harry’s entire body tenses up so Niall kisses him for a couple minutes to help him relax.  Once he does, he sets a rapid pace, chasing both their orgasms rather than drawing it out.  There’s time for that later.

The sofa creaks beneath them in protest but Niall pays it no mind.  If he does end up breaking the sofa, he can always order a new one or go shopping in person.  Right now, the sound of Harry’s heartbeat is drumming in his ears and he wants to taste Harry again so badly.  He knows the dangers of overfeeding yet he can’t help himself when it comes to Harry, who might actually be a dragon.  Harry’s green eyes are squeezed shut so there is no telling if his dragon nature is being brought forth again.

“Look at me,” Niall orders, using a bit of compulsion.  Eye contact works the best but this will do in a pinch.  Harry opens his eyes immediately and Niall sees that they are a normal colour despite the glossy look to them.

The relief is short–lived as Harry’s eyes light up once again and the fire consumes his irises.  They are multi-coloured, the flames, ranging from gold to forest green to a hint of midnight green.  So hypnotising.

Niall jolts out of his reverie and concentrates back on fucking Harry.  That was an unusual feeling, him getting hypnotised instead of doing the hypnosis.  Harry cries out from his harsh thrusts and Niall strokes him quickly, wanting to make Harry climax.  With a flurry of well-aimed thrusts and swipes of his thumb, Harry comes with a shuddering moan.  Niall chooses that moment to sink his teeth into the side of Harry’s neck again, coming soon after. 

Harry’s blood does taste better when the dragon’s spirit has awakened.  It has a richer taste to it as well as massive overflow of power.

“Do you like it?” Harry sneers.  Only, it’s not the normal Harry who is speaking.

“Will he ever merge with your personality?” Niall asks in lieu of an answer.

“Eventually,” Harry answers vaguely.  “Would you prefer the naïveté of the human Harry?  Or is it the darker taste that you long for?”

Niall twists his hand around Harry’s prick and he winces at the over-sensitivity. “I don’t care.  As long as the blood tastes good, the appearance of the container hardly matters.”

Harry laughs raucously.  The sudden sound brings suspicion to Niall’s mind. 

“You’re creepy when you do that,” he comments.  “I reckon you’ve got more evil trademarks waiting to be played.”

“Bet I’ve never been anywhere as cold as you though.  Just how many people have you killed out of boredom? Let’s not even think about the first few years of your new life when the need to feed and kill overrides any reason or thought.  How about those?  Creepy is a compliment compared to that, don’t you think.”

Niall snarls.  “How about you remember that I can still kill you.”

Harry cocks an eyebrow.  Before Niall can gauge his reaction properly, all the air is knocked out of his lungs as he is flung across the drawing room and he lands on the land with a loud crack.  He hears Josh yell out in pain somewhere in the background and sees Harry saunter towards him in his blurred vision.  He keeps advancing until his face is right up against Niall’s and his hot breaths fan over Niall’s unmoving nose.

“ _Au contraire, mon cheri_ ,” Harry whispers. “My powers have already surpassed yours.”

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

It’s been two weeks since that little confrontation and Niall has yet to return to his own house.  In the meanwhile, he’s been crashing at Zayn and Liam’s place.

“You’re such a coward,” Zayn criticises as Niall walks into the kitchen.

He flips him the finger.  “Up yours Zayn.  Up yours.”

“Nah, we take turns and it’s my turn to top tonight.”

Niall shudders for the effect.  “All my friends have a problem with oversharing except for Liam.  I hate you all.  Josh is my only friend from now on.”

Zayn pouts prettily.  “Aww your lips keep moving but your eyes keep loving me.”

Niall rolls his eyes.  He checks his ring comm—a rose gold signet ring with a massive ruby set in the middle—and sees that Josh has left another thirteen messages.  He deletes them without opening a single one.

“Why are you hiding out in our humble abode anyway?” Liam asks shyly, feeding Zayn a mouthful of omelettes.

“Harry is a dragon and I think I pissed him off a bit,” Niall shrug.

Liam spits out the coffee he’s been drinking.  “A dragon? Mate, I thought they went extinct forever ago.”

“I wish.  Harry is a recently awakened dragon and a fiery one at that.  Dragon-Harry isn’t happy that I fuck and feed off of human-Harry whenever I please so he decided to throw me around for a bit.  I could always buy a fancier house somewhere further away from London.  Maybe I should go back to Ireland, staying close to my roots and all.”

“You can always try talking it out with him,” Liam suggests.

“And end up with a perfectly good estate burnt down to the ground.  Sure, Li.  I’ll get on that straight away,” Niall jeers.

“According to you,” Zayn points out, “he hasn’t displayed any of the dragon traits other than his superhuman strength and the taste of his blood.  I think it’s safe to say that it’ll be a while before he can start hurling fire balls at you.”

Niall sighs.  “But I love your hospitality and food is better here.”

“You don’t _have_ to eat,” Liam comments quietly.

“Why waste food when it’s so good?  Sheesh Liam, only if you were alive around the World Wars.  Trust me, you get used to the sound of crying and screaming infants and the stench of rotting corpse.”

Liam stiffens and his expression turns apologetic.  “Sorry Ni.  It’s easy to forget that you’re ancient.”

“No problem,” Niall says honestly.  Time is a fickle thing that always slips through his fingers anyhow.

His wrist comm starts ringing up again and it’s Josh.  Niall begrudgingly answers the call.

“You are so dead when you come back,” Josh threatens.  “I’m hiding all of the A-neg as we speak.  I’ll leave only the bland AB types and you’ll be begging for forgiveness before they ever see the light of day again.  Also, Harry says that he misses you.”

That’s a pleasant surprise.  “He said that?”

“Yeah.  He’s not the scary dragon-Harry anymore.  He looks proper depressed mate, what did you do in the first place to make him pissed at you?”

“Fucked him and fed from him, you know the usual,” Niall answer in a blasé tone.

“I know he’s human mate, but he is a person too,” Josh reprimands him. “And have you any intel on dragons?  My database hasn’t got the best info on them since they are supposed to be extinct.”

“Nick told me some things and those are precisely the kind of things that are keeping me well away from Harry at the moment.”

“But Harry misses you,” Josh complains.  “I’ve never seen someone mope around that much and I have watched you brood for decades, mate.”

Niall grits his teeth.  “Unless he can somehow guarantee that his dragon self won’t kill me on sight, I’m not returning home.”

Liam pouts.  “Have a little more faith, mate.  I don’t think you’d have a row with him ever again as long as you treat him right.”

 _He has a point there_ , Niall muses.  “Fine, I’ll go home tomorrow night.  Dawn will be here in a couple minutes so the homecoming will have to wait.”

Josh’s hologram smiles.  “Great!  I’ll go tell Harry that.  Now behave, alright?”

Niall sighs.  “Yes, _dad_.”

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

The air smells like it’s about to rain when Niall arrives back at his own mansion.  The door opens as Niall approaches it. When Niall steps inside, he finds himself tackled down to the floor.

“Niall I’m so, so, so sorry!” Harry wails, his face streaked with tears and flushed pinkish red.

“Stop that,” Niall demands.  He can’t deal with a crying Harry right now, or crying anyone.

“So-sorry,” Harry sniffles.  “I thought you’d left me here, is all.”

A twinge of guilt tugs at Niall’s heart and Niall ignores it out of habit.  “I just needed to make sure that the dragon of yours won’t kill me.  And he won’t right?  As long as I don’t feed from you just whenever it pleases, I wouldn’t anger him.”

Harry looks sheepish.  “I haven’t got much control over him to be honest.  He and I are still separate beings.  The dragon in me wants to be mad at you but at the same time, he’s intrigued by you.  He thinks that there’s something different about you compared to other vampires.”

Niall grits his teeth.  This shite again.  Maybe the whole demon awakening thing is real and he should consult Grimmy for help

“What can I say; I’m one hell of a vampire,” Niall jokes.  He reaches out unconsciously and strokes Harry’s curls.  Like a kitten, Harry leans into the touch and blushes when he realises what he’s done.  His cheeks are still blotchy from crying and Niall wipes away the tears with his other hand.

“Don’t cry because of what people have done to you, Harry.  That is the only way that they win.”

Only if he could heed his own advice.

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

Summer is fading into autumn and Niall decides that he would like to travel.  In his four hundred years of life, he’s been literally around the world and it’s really tragic and pathetic that Harry hasn’t seen every corner of the world.  So he makes plans to fly to South Korea for the fall since he knows for a fact the falls in Korea are truly magnificent.

“Korea?” Harry asks, eyes widening with excitement.  “When are we leaving then?”

“Tomorrow,” Niall answers, ruffling Harry’s curls.  They have grown out so long and now Harry has taken to holding it back with a head scarf.  “You don’t even have to pack anything since we’ll go shopping there for fall clothes anyway.”

“Thank you, Niall,” Harry exclaims, jumping into Niall’s arms.  The vampire puts his arms around Harry’s waist awkwardly.  It’s been months since he last saw the dragon side of Harry.  He knows that Harry is changing daily from the subtle shift in his scent and the aura of power that he emits.  Harry has also gone through a bit of a growth spurt so now he is several inches taller than Niall, which kind of irks him.

Niall also hasn’t tried to initiate anything sexual since months now.  He doesn’t mind that but he is rather surprised that Harry has managed to hold off so long given that he was a sex pet who had gotten used to regular sex back in the store.

Right now, Harry is asking Josh about Korea and Josh is talking about it quite enthusiastically.  The last time Niall went to Korea was about two decades ago and Josh had set up some photo transfer stream so that all the pictures Niall took would be saved to Josh’s database straight away.

 

 

A few hours later, Harry goes to bed but not before kissing Niall’s cheek chastely.  It’s a normal occurrence since Harry is an affectionate person.  He even says goodnight to Josh for crying out loud.

“You need to be at the airport by 11.43 for the check-in tomorrow night,” Josh reminds him.  “Since you’re flying first-class, the security and other shite should be quick.”

Niall nods.  “It’s been forever since I last travelled outside of Europe,” he muses.

“Yeah.  Now sleep tight since you can’t sleep well on planes.”

 

Next morning, Niall wakes to Harry bouncing on the bed by his head. 

“Niall,” Harry shouts.  “Time to wake up!”

There is a further dip in the mattress as Harry lands on his butt next to Niall’s head and leans over him.  The tips of his hair brushes against Niall cheeks and it tickles.

“Fine, fine,” Niall grumbles.  “’M up.”

It takes about half an hour to go to Heathrow and less than that to get through security.  The plane they are boarding is early so they are on the plane pretty quickly.  Harry is wide-eyed as he looks around the first-class cabin.

“These seats are so comfy!” he enthuses. 

“They also convert into beds if you lean back.  And you should probably look at the menu and decide what you want.  There’s a full-course French meal if you’d like.”

“With like snails and stuff?” Harry asks.

Niall shrugs.  “Probably.  Pois de gras is better though.”

“Gotcha.”

A couple hours into the flight, food is served.  Harry orders the full-course French meal with some wines whilst Niall gets a bottle of Sangréal for the meantime.  He does nick some off of Harry’s plate since the smell is so tantalising.  Once or twice, he catches Harry staring intently at his lips for more intensity than required.  He smirks to himself.  Maybe Harry was holding back after all.

The flight is long and just as Josh had predicted, Niall can’t get a wink of sleep.  Thanks to the time difference, they arrive at the Incheon International Airport a couple hours before sunrise.  The hotel that Niall booked is only a block away and he has spared no expenses.  The presidential suite is decorated lavishly to Niall’s taste and the Jacuzzi in the bathroom is the size of a small pool.

“You are so spoilt,” Harry comments.

“I dunno, after living most of my human life as a street urchin, I think I more than deserve this.”

Harry winces and he looks like a kitten who has had its cream stolen.  Niall makes up for it by kissing the top of his curls.  “It’s a long time ago, literally centuries.  Clinging on to the past only makes the world a dull place and trust me, you’ve no reason to feel sorry for me.”

Harry nods slowly.  Niall goes to the bathroom with the intention of soaking in the Jacuzzi for a bit.  At the last second, he invites Harry, “Care to join me for a bit of Jacuzzi?”

“O-okay.”

Niall strips off his clothes quickly without shame and steps into the bathroom.  He doesn’t turn on the lights; instead he lights the lavender and jasmine scented candles that were set up as per his request and turns on the Jacuzzi.  A minute later, Harry enters the bathroom shyly.  He is still wearing his navy-and-white striped boxer briefs.

“D’ya plan on bathing in your underwear?” Niall teases.

“Of course not!’ Harry replies indignantly.  So Niall gestures at the offending piece of clothing and Harry blushes bright scarlet as he takes them off slowly.

“Much better.”

The near-scalding water feels good against Niall’s cold skin and he could almost fall asleep right now.  Harry is more timid getting in and Niall playfully splashes the hot water at Harry.

“’S hot!” Harry complains.

“It’s relaxing,” Niall counters, wrapping his arms around Harry.  He pulls him down so that Harry’s torso in immersed in the water and sat on Niall’s lap.

“Ehm . . .” Harry mumbles.

“What?” Niall asks innocently, his lips brushing the back of Harry’s neck.

“If you do that . . .” the sentence ends in a soft moan.

“I take it that I’m allowed to touch?” Niall teases, one hand sliding down Harry’s stomach.  He hears Harry’s breaths hitch as Niall’s fingertips graze the nest of wispy curls around his prick.

“Yes,” Harry hisses.  Niall caresses the length of Harry’s prick with the back of his fingers and grips it lightly.  He doesn’t apply much pressure, just light touches of his fingers and palm against Harry’s slowly firming erection.  The quiet moans that slip out of Harry’s mouth excites Niall and soon enough, his own arousal is poking at Harry’s back.

Niall grips Harry’s hips and turns him around and kisses him ferociously.  His fangs scrape at Harry’s lips and tongue, which the other lad seems to enjoy.  Their pricks are barely touching and Niall improves it by pulling Harry in closer and shifts is hips.  The friction on his dick feels amazing and he licks into Harry’s mouth.  At the same time, he wraps a hand around both their cocks and uses the other hand to press Harry into him even more. 

The water makes the sliding motion easy and Harry cries out, head thrown back.  The call of Harry’s blood is too strong and Niall’s head is fuzzy with it but he can’t just attack Harry.  He knows better now, he supposes.  Instead, he tries to satisfy some of his hunger in an alternate way.

He picks Harry up and lays him out on the edge of the Jacuzzi.  With his limbs all splayed out, Harry is the very definition of debauched.  Niall wastes no time sucking Harry down to the base and deep-throating him.  Mixture of salty and bitter taste dribbles down his throat and he increases the suction greedily.  Harry is moaning continuously and the sounds are so delicious Niall could slurp them up.  He moves his head up and down as well, teasing the sensitive area behind Harry’s balls and pressing in lightly.  In a few moments later, he pushes in a finger, crooking it immediately against the prostate.

“Niall!” Harry shouts.  When Niall looks up, Harry’s milky pale face is blotchy and tears well up from the overwhelming pleasure.  He takes his mouth off Harry’s dick and continues with his finger.  He adds two more in the stretch of several minutes and he doesn’t let up at all.

Clear fluid flows out of Harry’s tip and it keeps on going.  Niall knows what he’s doing, in theory, and seeing Harry so wrought with pleasure makes him want to fuck Harry until the sun completes its cycle in the sky.  He jabs into Harry’s prostate with a bit more force and Harry properly screams.  More of the viscous fluid blurb out of the slit and Niall has to refrain himself from ducking down to lap at it.

“You’re gorgeous like this,” Niall offers, looking directly into Harry’s glazed eyes.

“Mmmngh!” Harry manages.  “Please!”

“Slut,” Niall says fondly.  “What’d happen if I kept going, I wonder.”

Harry’s eyes widen but fear isn’t the only thing in them.  There’s curiosity and wild lust in them as well.

Slowly, Niall retracts his fingers and watches in fascination as Harry’s hole clenches greedily as if to keep them inside.  He splashes out of the tub to rummage through the drawers for lube and returns with a tube in hand seconds later.  After slicking up his cock liberally, he spreads Harry’s thigh wide and holds his knees up to his chest before thrusting in.

Harry must have been desperate for it because the moment Niall is in, sluices of precum pours out of Harry’s dick.  He bites his lip in embarrassment and Niall kisses him sweetly.  He’s quite loose so Niall is free to start circling his hips, seated in deep.  The choked gasps and groans that comes out of Harry’s mouth are simply delicious.  He pulls out nearly all the way before slamming back in, full vampire speed.

“Oh my god, Niall!” Harry chokes out, head lolling on the cold marble lip of the tub.  Some of the hot water overflows and adds to the sound of skin on skin.  Niall decides to be cruel and squeezes the base of Harry’s leaking cock.

“Not until I say so,” he orders sweetly.  Red-faced and eyes shut tight with pleasure, Harry nods jerkily.  Niall knows that Harry is so damn close from the occasional tightening around his own dick.

In a several minutes, he empties himself deep inside of Harry.  Harry cries out at the sudden wet and warm sensation and his body tenses up in desperation.  Niall takes pity and loosens his hand around Harry’s prick and strokes it rapidly.  “Come,” he commands.  Harry does exactly, his entire body bowing up with the force of his delayed orgasm.

Niall pulls out and picks up Harry’s jellified body.  He dries off both of them and then carries Harry to the bed.  The mattress literally sinks under their weight and Niall pulls the covers over their body.  He kisses Harry’s nose and plays with his hair as he watches Harry sleep soundly.

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

A few days later, they run into a friend of Niall’s.

“Hi Niall!” an American voice greet him, tinged with a hint of a southern twang.

“Hi Taylor,” Niall replies, smiling.

“It’s been forever since I saw you! What brings you to Korea?” Taylor asks, hugging Niall tightly.  She sort of looms over him, especially in heels, and her smug expression leaves no imaginations as to what she is thinking.

“Just on a hol with Harry.  He’s my pet.”

“Nice to meet you, Harry,” Taylor says with a bright smile.  She extends the hug to Harry as well, who blushes profusely.  “He smells so yummy too.”

Harry flinches.  Niall simply laughs at his reaction.  “Taylor is a siren, meaning that the sound of her singing, or sometimes even her normal voice, can enchant people.  So never go to a karaoke with her unless you want to spend the rest of the night making an utter fool out of yourself.”

Taylor pouts.  “That was one time and your friend Louis should have known better.  It has been thirty years so I can only hope that he’s learnt better.  Wanna come to New York soon?  Or Rhodes Island since I do have a mansion there.”

“I’ll call you before I go,” Niall promises.  “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to take Harry on a tour around Seoul.”

Taylor ducks in to plant a quick peck on Niall cheek as well as Harry’s.  “Bye.  Call me soon, ‘kay?”

“Will do.”

Niall watches as Taylor walks out of his sight, leaving behind a trail of her sweet and spicy scent that is inherent in all sirens.  Taylor is a pure-blooded siren, meaning that she is quite the looker to all sexes.

“She’s . . . beautiful,” Harry comments, awed.

“That’s the kind of reaction most people get when they first meet her.  Once you get used to her, you’ll see that she’s real down to earth and fun to hang out with,” Niall shrugs.

“I certainly look forward to it,” Harry mutters lowly, probably forgetting about Niall’s super-hearing.

“Ya fancy her?” Niall teases, leading Harry down the street.  The buildings display signs in Korean and they are all gift shops and such.  He spots a clothing store down the block so he hurries his pace.

“She’s pretty,” Harry defends.

“I don’t blame ya.  Now c’mon.  The fashion world in Seoul is quite something.

 

 

In the end, Harry ends up with enough outfits to last a few months and same for Niall.  He makes Harry change into a crisp white t-shirt with a denim shirt unbuttoned whilst he dresses in a black Henley shirt and skinny jeans.  He can feel Harry’s gaze focused on how much the thin fabric clings to his muscles.

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer,” Niall jokes, winking.

“I would if I can figure how to work the camera function in my wrist comm,” Harry pouts.

Niall laughs.  He had gotten Harry his own wrist comm a few months back and it’s not all that surprising that Harry is helpless at technological stuff.  He patiently shows Harry how to turn on the app and strikes a ridiculous pose.

“This good enough for ya?” Niall smirks.

Harry blushes and nods feebly as he takes a picture.  Laughing, Niall rushes up to kiss Harry’s lips lightly.

“It’s getting late; we should get something to eat.  You ain’t eaten until you’ve tasted the legendary Korean barbecue!”

Niall half-drags Harry to a nearby cab and goes to the central Gangnam area, pretty much where all the tourist traps are.  He goes straight a restaurant with an extremely long queue and to everyone’s dismay, slips past it.  He tells the hostess his name and her eyes widen.  They are ushered to a private room in the back and in a moment, a beautiful man walks in.

“Niall,” he says in an unaccented voice.  Harry can only guess that he’s either spent a long time in England or lived a very long time.  “You haven’t visited me in ages!  You promised to come visit after I leave London.”

Niall smiles sheepishly.  “Sorry, bro.  I was busy with a few things.  Harry this is Jun-ho, a good friend of mine.  Jun-ho this is Harry, he’s my pet that my friends bought me a few months back.

Jun-ho smiles warmly.  “Nice to meet you.  I run one of the best restaurants in town.  Anything you want is yours.  Niall was like a mentor to me since the bastard of a maker ditched me the moment I turned.  Similar to Louis, I suppose.”

“Does that happen a lot?  The makers ditching their fledglings, I mean,” Harry asks tentatively.

Niall shrugs.  “Not really.  Only the irresponsible and careless cowards who don’t have the guts to basically raise an infant do that.  Sadly, that’s more twats than we need in this world.”

Harry frowns.  “Why bother then?”

Jun-ho grimaces.  “At the time, vamps were gearing up to take over the world.  The other supernaturals too, except they can’t turn humans into one of them.  Naturally, we had to do something about it.  Enough talk, let’s eat already!”

They sure do eat a lot.  Harry thinks he is going to burst from all the meat he’s eaten and he knows he won’t regret one second of today’s meal.

“Where to now?’ Harry asks as the exit the restaurant.

“Some famous street in the downtown area.  We could either shop or just look around,” Niall answers.  He is growing oddly fond of this human.  Weird.

Just then, pain overwhelms him.  It’s the same as before, his heart is on fire and his body is burning up with it.  He can’t do anything but crumple on to the ground and wait for it to pass.

And something weird happens.  It’s as though something is siphoning the pain off him.  After a while, he registers the touch of Harry’s hand over his chest.  His eyes are shut in concentration and sweat is pooling above his brows.  Slowly but surely, the pain recedes until the only spots that hurt are between his shoulder blades.

“We’re going back to the hotel,” Harry says mechanically.

Niall notices that a lot of people are blatantly gawking.  He finds out why as soon as step inside the lift at the hotel.

He has got wings.  Massive, feathery wings that are blue, silver, and black.

“What the fuck?”

“The aura around you has changed.  You were cold and blood red but now there’s a shimmer to it and warmth co-existing with the iciness,” Harry supplies.

“You’re making as much sense as these wings on me back,” Niall points out.

“I can sort of see and sense auras now.  A dragon thing, I reckon.  You’re what they call an angel or a demon, yeah?”

Nick’s words come rushing back to Niall’s mind. _“Demon,” Nick enunciates.  “Do I have to spell it out for you?”_

_“Demons don’t exist.  If they did, the scientists would have found them out a long time ago.  Or even stupid humans would have stumbled across them,” Niall spits out._

_“Demons are elusive by nature.  Only the most reckless and skilled magick users summon them and sometimes bind them into a contract.  The types of contract that a demon forms depends on the needs and other circumstances.  And somehow you were born with the soul of a demon inside your body.  Normally, when that happens the human conscience is erased rather quickly.  You shouldn’t have completed your transformation into a vampire with that kind of power.  And yet here you are, a vampire with a demon’s soul.  Very un-alive and well.”_

“Fuck,” Niall breathes out.

They go into their hotel room and first thing Niall does is take of his shirt and struggle to get them off his wings without destroying it.  He finds out that the wings have torn their way through the thin material and he snarls angrily.  The wings look like they belong on his back.  There are smaller, fluffy feathers that sprout from between his shoulder blades and get longer and stiffer towards the end.  Black feathers sprout from his skin but they transition into blackened silver to silver to light blue that matches his eyes at the tips.  He thinks about shaking the wings and they move according to his will.

“Fuckin’ ‘ell,” he mutters.

“They’re beautiful,” Harry blurts out, awed.  With a shaky hand, Harry reaches out and touches the tip of the right wing.  A shiver runs up from the tip to his shoulder, and it’s not necessarily a weird sensation.

“They’re fuckin’ weird,” Niall grumbles.  He folds them up to the best of his abilities and tries to lie down on the plush bed.  It takes a while for him to find a position that won’t cramp up his wings—that is so fucked up, ‘his’ wings—and he ends up lying on his stomach.

“What’s it feel like?” Harry inquires, fingers lightly traipsing up and down the cartilaginous top of the wing.

“Ticklish,” Niall replies honestly.  “And it’s, I dunno, arousing.”

He catches the brief look of mischief before it’s replaced by a neutral one.

“Harry,” Niall warns.

“Ah c’mon,” Harry pouts adorably.  “Usually it’s you who gets a kick out of teasing me to the point of torture.  I say we turn the tables for tonight.”

Niall pounces on Harry quickly.  He perches himself over Harry so that his body and wings create a massive shadow over the dark haired male.  There is excitement and uncertainty swirling in Harry’s eyes and Niall grins.

“I make the rules here, babe,” Niall croons.  “Not you.”

He concentrates on moving his left wing so the tip of it strokes Harry’s cheek, or at least that’s the intent.  What he does is tickle Harry by brushing his wingtip on the underside of Harry’s jaw.

“You need to practice that,” Harry jokes in-between laughter.  “Damn that tickles.”

Niall slides off Harry’s body and flops down onto the mattress.  “I’m tired so we’ll get up to some fun later, yeah?”

“Yeah, okay.”

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

Niall dreams of fire and sky and blood.  Everything is tinged with the mouth-watering shade of blood-red and his fangs lengthen instinctively.  But there is something holding him back.  He can’t identify the obstruction at all even with his excellent vision.  He flaps his wings wildly and snarls all to no avail.

The wind shifts direction and now Niall can detect a different scent.  It’s earthier and even more appetising then the small of plain blood.  He turns around and follows the scent.

Pillars of smoke rise from the ground and it interferes with the new scent a bit.  However, Niall blows away the disgust heavy smoke with his wing strokes and continues on with his hunt.  A few minute passes and he is beginning to see the outline of some kind of a monument.

Jagged pieces of black rocks are piled on top of one another to form a crude mountain and on top of it, a great big pyre is burning.  The flames are of no ordinary make as they shimmer with green and gold rather than red and orange.  The cold air swirls around Niall in his own personal hurricane and brings him right in front of the pyre.

He hisses when he recognises who is on the pyre.  It’s everyone than he cares about.  Bressie, Zayn, Louis, Liam . . . everyone except for Harry.

_Where is Harry?_

Niall searches around in a panic.  Other than his alluring scent—yeah that had to have been the scent that enticed him and led him here—Harry is nowhere to be found.  Tears of anguish flow down Niall’s cheeks and he wipes at them in bewilderment.  It’s been centuries since he had last cried and here he is, crying for a mere pet.  No, Harry is more than just a pet now.  He has grown on Niall and now, Harry is something that Niall considers to be precious.  Someone that Niall wants to protect and call his own.

_And he’s not here!_

“Oh, poor little Niall,” a familiar voice taunts.

Niall whips around to face the source of the voice.  It’s Harry.

But it’s not Harry.

The person has Harry’s face, hair, and body but something is off.  His usually kind and innocent voice has a cold, hardened edge to it and he’s so cruel.  The way he is stood screams arrogant and powerful.

“Where’s Harry?” Niall growls.

“I’m Harry, silly,” the creature all but purrs.  “Your Harry, Niall.”

“No you aren’t,” Niall rebuffs.  “Harry wouldn’t smile like that.  He smiles with his heart in his eyes.”

The “Harry” touches his fingertips to his forehead and shakes his head.  “Damn.  Oh well, it was fun whilst it lasted.”

Before he finishes his sentence, he is already face-to-face with Niall.  He snatches Niall’s hand and holds it up to his face as if to kiss it.  Instead, Harry merely breathes on it.

Niall cries out at the sudden scorching sensation that runs up from his palm to his spine.  When he jolts away and looks at it, he’s flabbergasted.  On his palm is a glowing red mark that is identical to Harry’s birthmark.  Strange, foreign and ethereal power pulses from the marking and it burns Niall with every beat.  He hisses and bites into his finger on the other hand and rubs the blood into the mark.  It doesn’t heal up like it should and it worries Niall.

“You can’t get rid of it,” Harry sneers, his eyes burning green and gold. “Once the _aionia phloga_ is placed upon you, it’s forever.”

Niall wants to protest and ask what the fuck it means but the slowly fading away scenery prevents that.

He wakes panting for breath and his heart racing wildly.  Weird, since he technically doesn’t have to breathe as his body is dead except for his heart.  Next to him, Harry is sleeping soundly, soft snores escaping him.

Instinctively, Niall glances at his right palm to check if that bizarre is there.  He lets out a long sigh of relief when he doesn’t see any.  The dream was too realistic and he can still feel the faint echo of the burn that had captured him in the dream.  Maybe it only appears when he touches Harry or something?  With that in mind, he gingerly runs his fingers through Harry’s mussed-up curls.  Nothing happens.

 _Well there’s at least on good news_ , he thinks bitterly as the wings on his back rustle.

Niall’s still got next to zero control over his wings and as he sits up, he tickles Harry’s sides.  Asleep and unaware, the humans snorts out a chuckle.  Smirking somewhat devilishly, Niall focuses all his attention on moving the tips of his wings across Harry’s back.  Harry’s green eyes—the normal, bright wide green ones—open and he bursts out laughing.

“No, five more minutes!” he pleads sluggishly.

“We’re going sightseeing,” Niall states sternly.

“Not with those massive feathery things on your back,” Harry argues, eyes slipping shut dangerously.

“I’ll figure something out.” By which he means that he’ll yell at Nick over the phone.

“M’kay,” Harry mutters, sounding half-asleep.

Sighing, Niall hops off the bedroom and surprises himself by gliding mid-air for a few seconds.  He tries flapping them for a few strokes and he succeeds in lifting himself off the ground a few inches.

Once he is out of Harry’s ear-shot, he dials Louis’ number on his comm.

“Who the fuck are you and you’d better have a good reason for calling me at arse o’clock at night,” Nick grouses, clearly too sleepy to check the screen for Niall’s face.

“’S Niall.  I, uhm, I got my wings and now they won’t go away.”

Nick yawns loudly.  There is muffled speech off screen and Nick makes a vague waving gesture.  “You gotta accept that they are a part of you before you can move them freely.  Then imagine yourself like you normally are: fanged and deathly pale.  That outta do the trick.  Bye now.”

Niall growls at the dial tone and does as he’s told.  A familiar warmth surges throughout his body and when he thinks about tilting is right wing, it does exactly in less than a second.  Smirking, he visualises his body minus the wings and he feels the weight of them disappear.

Triumphant, he returns to the bedroom and shakes Harry.  He makes the cutest mewling sound and blinks slowly, as if not comprehending what is happening to him.  A fond and besotted look enters his green eyes when he recognises Niall.

“Too early,” he complains, leaning his head on Niall’s head when Niall pulls his upright.

“By midnight, all the tourist attractions will be disgustingly full of people.  My wings have been put away so there’s no reason for us to delay any further.”

“Make me,” Harry mumbles, eyes closed.

Niall raises an amused brow.  Without warning the lad, Niall puts Harry over his shoulder and carries him to the bathroom.  He doesn’t bother shucking off Harry’s boxers before he turns on the shower and turn around so that Harry’s face is soaked within seconds.

“Hey!” Harry sputters.  Niall laughs and puts Harry back down gently.

“Awake yet?” he teases.

Harry scowls, looking very much like an angry kitten.  “No thanks to you.”

Niall smiles sinisterly right before he lunges into to tickle Harry.

“No, no, no!” Harry wails, laughing wildly.  “Not—fair!”

Harry must have forgotten that they were in a shower because he tries to run away and slips on the pool of water on the floor.  Niall catches him as soon as that happens and kisses him on the forehead.

“I just realised,” Niall says in a serious tone.  “I never really apologised for what I said about humans all those months ago.  That you are basically worthless and a toy to be taken out of the box only when I feel like it.”

He holds Harry’s chin between his forefinger and thumb and tilts his head.  Eye to eye, Niall is even stricken by the feelings that have been sneaking up on him recently.  “You are much more than that, Harry.  It’s been a while since I’ve let someone else into life and care about them but you . . . I want to protect you from anything and anyone that tries to hurt you.  The feelings I harbour for you goes beyond the possessiveness that a person has for his possessions.  You’re something special, alright, dragon thing notwithstanding.  I reckon that’s what I like about you.  You hold me tight despite the things I’ve done and said to you.  You look at me like I matter to you.  And I’m telling you right now that you matter to me.”

It’s not quite a declaration of love; no they will have to work towards that.  But it’s how Niall feels at the moment and the raw honesty of it brings tears to Harry’s green eyes.

“Sap,” Niall teases, standing on his tip-toes to kiss the tears away. 

“I—I love you,” Harry stammers.  “I know that it’ll take some time before you can say these three words back to me but it doesn’t matter.  I want you to know that I still love you.”

“Thank you Harry,” Niall responds.  “I really don’t deserve someone like you.”

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

“I’ve decided that I don’t like plane rides,” Harry pouts. 

After a month in South Korea, they are flying off to Rhodes Islands this time.  Taylor has called Niall on the tail-end of their journey and told them that she is having a Christmas party.  Since it’s late November and Niall hasn’t properly visited her in ages, Niall has agreed to stay in the States for a while.

“At least she sent us her private jet,” Niall reasons.

“But I have to pretty much sit here for eleven hours,” Harry continues to whine.

“What we have now that we didn’t before though,” Niall points out, “is privacy.”

Harry’s cheeks redden at that.  The flight attendants’ quarter is quite some distance away so that they could get away with a quick shag or two

“Wait—” Harry cuts himself off as Niall slides a hand down the front of his trousers.

“No pants?” Niall smirks, squeezing lightly around Harry.  “Naughty, naughty.”

“You woke me at five—mmnnngh!” Harry’s explanation is lost in the moans that overtake them.  Niall swipes his thumb over the slit and a drop of pre-cum dribbles out.

“I love how responsive you are,” Niall croons, pulling his own trousers down with his unoccupied hand.  “Is sensitivity a dragon thing or is it just you?”

Harry wants to say something witty back but the tempo that Niall is pumping him at is just perfect and he feels his body go lax in the cushioned seat.  Niall leans down to kiss him and then rubs his dick against Harry’s.  Harry’s pre-cum alone is providing enough slickness for them to rub one off comfortably.

“Good thing ‘m always prepared,” Niall whispers into Harry’s ear, licking at the shell.

 

 

Two orgasms and ten hours later, Harry arrives in America for the first time in his life.  The first impression he gets is that everything is massive.  The fast food place right outside the gates serves gigantic proportions and Harry can barely finish half the burger.  Niall happily finishes the rest for them. 

Taylor has come out to get them and Harry is greeted with another enthusiastic hug and a curious sniff at the nape of his neck.  On the drive back, Taylor chatters about how unusually warm it’s been lately. 

“I was hoping for a white Christmas,” she pouts.

“Move to London then,” Niall offers.  “Plenty of snow and ice during the winter there.”

“And here I thought our ways have stopped the global warming,” Taylor jokes.  Harry perks up because that’s a new topic.

“What global warming?” he asks.

Taylor grimaces.  “In the twentieth century, there was a rapid growth in technology and the average temperature ‘round the world rose significantly.  By twenty-first century, it was still going at an alarmingly steady rate.  When the supernaturals took over two centuries ago, the first thing they did was ban the traditional gasoline-run vehicles.  Most of us can travel by foot pretty quickly so it was no problem.”

“Oh.” Harry looks a bit embarrassed.  Niall quickly reaches over to kiss his nose and ruffles his hair.

“Don’t worry.  Your generation of humans are nothing like that.  As I’d rudely pointed out, human race these days are under strict rule of non-humans.  It’s cruel to say this but it is for the best.”

“I don’t mind.  If things still were as they were a few centuries ago, I never would have met you.”

Niall smiles.  “I wouldn’t say that.  Fate has an interesting way of being consistent.”

Harry cocks his head. “Are you saying that you think we were fated to meet? That’s really romantic.” 

“Whatever,” Niall retorts.  Harry knows that that was the best he could get out Niall.  Taylor looks between them and then smiles mysteriously.

“Someone’s been falling,” she singsongs.

“Shut up,” Niall hisses lowly so only Taylor can hear.

“That’s what people say.  Heartbreaker’s gonna break and lover’s gonna mend.  Which one will you be?” she asks cryptically.

Harry looks just as confused as Niall feels.  “You are impossible,” Niall retorts, just shaking it off as Taylor being random.

“Guest rooms are on the second floor,” Taylor instructs.

Niall takes both his and Harry’s suitcases and takes them upstairs.  Taylor calls out behind them, “If you’re gonna do it, keep the volume down!”  He knows that Harry’s cheeks are reddening even without glancing back.

“She’s something else, isn’t she?” “Niall half-laughs as he starts to unpack.

“To put it mildly,” Harry agrees.

“One of the best people to hang around with though.”

“Did you . . . ?” Harry asks halfway.

“No, never.  Too tall for me, really,” Niall jokes.  “Can’t say the though never crossed my mind though.”

“Oh.”  Harry looks away.

Niall smirks.  “You think she’s fit, don’t ya?”

The brunet blushes prettily.  “She _is_ beautiful!  No one can deny that.”

Niall throws his head back and guffaws.  “You’re a goner already.  If you hear her sing, or even just hum somethin’, you’ll be trapped under her spell.  Some supernaturals have some resistance to her powers but in the end, all of us will succumb to it.  Most people don’t realize how powerful manipulation of the emotions can be.  Love and hate are one of the strongest weapons one can use against another.”

Harry looks at Niall as though he’s just thought of something.  “Then where is the guarantee that all you have done to me is not a big fat lie?”

The vampire sighs wearily, sounding and appearing very much like the person who has endures centuries of existence.  He spear-tackles Harry to the bed and poises himself above Harry’s body, supporting his weigh on his knees and one hand.  With the one free hand, he snatches up Harry’s hand and presses it against where his heart is.

“Feel that?” Niall whispers, eyes glowing red.  “It’s my dead heart.  Until recently, it barely beat, just slow enough to pump the artificial blood throughout my dead body and keep me going.  When you came into my life, something changed.  Suddenly, it wasn’t just the foreign blood that had my heart pumping; it was you.  Your presence and everything you felt for me made my heart beat faster and steadier, like I wanted to live.  That’s why I wanna tell you that it’s you that it all adds up to.  I’m still not ready to say that I love you but I’m pretty fuckin’ close to it.”

Harry stares up into Niall’s eyes with bewildered eyes.  Underneath his fingers, he can feel Niall’s heart beating, thrumming like a hummingbird’s wings.  It slows down as the seconds pass but it stays at a normal, human rate.  He slides his hand up and guides Niall’s face down to kiss him.  They kiss sweetly, without a hint of lust, pouring their compassion and everything else into it.  There’s no hurry because all they’ve got is time.

For the time being.

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

“Happy holidays!” Louis bellows out as he comes into Taylor’s house.  “I invited a few friends from Australia too, hope you don’t mind, Taylor!” he all but shoves a basket chock-full of quality booze into Taylor’s arms.

“Of course I don’t! I live by the saying ‘the more the merrier’,” she says, all smiles.

Behind Louis is Nick as usual and four very familiar faces.

“Harry these are my friend from Sydney,” Niall introduces.  “Ashton, were-jaguar; Luke, siren; Michael, vampire, and Calum is a banshee.”

“Hiya,” Ashton greets, pulling Harry in for a hug.  He does what Harry has come to think of as the customary curious sniff.  “Ya smell good.”

Niall hisses.  “Off-limits, Ash.  He’s my human.”

Harry stiffens at the possessive tone in Niall’s voice.  He is also kind of turned on.  Fuck.

“Uh, aren’t the vampires the only ones who use humans for, ehm, things?” he asks shyly.

Michael grins crookedly, the vampire with bright green hair.  “Not exactly.  Submission has becomes second nature humans so really, anyone can do things to them.”

“Another question, what exactly is a banshee?” Harry adds.

“We predict death.  Not the coolest power but at least we know when people are gonna die on us,” Calum explains with a shrug and nuzzling into Luke’s neck.

Nick pats Harry on the back.  He startles because he hadn’t seen the older man come in.  “Banshees also have super-hearing so I suggest that you dial down the shagging for the meanwhile.  Predicting death or danger in general is a beautiful art.  Only the most powerful witches and warlocks can use the correct spells to attempt it, let alone succeed.  I think I’ve done it right maybe twenty times in my lifetime.”

Louis makes a purring sound.  “You suck at being modest.”

Nick arches a brow in a practiced manner.  “And you suck in general so we are even matched, ain’t we?”

Someone coughs awkwardly by the door and to no one’s surprise, it’s Liam and Zayn.  Zayn is trying to suppress his smirk whilst Liam looks so uncomfortable.

“We brought wine from France or Italy.  One of those places,” Zayn says dismissively, kissing his boyfriend’s cheek.

“Well damn,” another new voice complains.  “Good thing I just brought a bottle of tequila.”

“Ed!” Taylor exclaims happily.  She rushes out to hug him.  “It’s been two whole months.  How’s England been?”

“Oh you know,” Ed gestures non-definitively. “Grey and gloomy.  I see that the party is now going to start?”

“Nah, Karlie still has to come.  Ed is another siren and Karlie is a mermaid,” Taylor explains to Harry.

“Nice to meet you,” Ed says, holding out his hand.  Harry takes it and marvels at what his life has become.  Just a few months ago, he was stuck at the store hoping that someone would buy him already.  Now, he has a master who has turned out to by unimaginably generous and he knows a few supernaturals that he can call his friends.  Most of all, he is his own person.

“Dinner’s gonna get burned if we keep standing around like this,” Taylor reminds them.  They all nod and head to the massive kitchen.

The table is filled with all sorts of food.  There are bowls of different salads, two massive turkeys with a few gravy boats, stuffing, and cranberry sauce, and some pasta too.  There are what seems to be three different kinds of alcoholic beverages and Harry realises that one of them has got to be containing blood.  It seems that Louis has brought a couple of the prestigious Sangréal brand of course.

The dinner is filled with fond conversation and mostly catching up.  Karlie shows up a quarter of an hour later with apologies about traffic and Taylor welcomes her warmly.  It’s easy to tell that they are best of mates.  The weres sure eat their share and Harry is barely done his first plate.  The vampires except for Niall barely touch the human food, choosing instead to sip on their blood-spiked drinks.

“Still the same I see, all of you,” Taylor says with a smile.  Karlie stays clear of the seafood variety whilst the weres don’t even glance at the vegetables.  Zayn shrugs and wipes at his mouth with the napkin. Harry has noticed that Zayn doesn’t eat a lot, which he can never understand living with Niall. 

“You’re still the best cook I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing,” Louis chirps.  “You won’t believe how many times I almost burnt down me house.”

Everyone laughs, all except for Nick.  “If it wasn’t for my excellent spell casting and the recent fire-proofing spell that redid, we’d be a pile of ash floating around in the air, mind you.  Speaking of, how’s Harry faring with the dragon business?”

 _That bastard,_ Niall thinks vehemently.  _Subtle as an elephant._

“Actually there’s been not much development in months,” he answers calmly.

“Can’t say the same for you though,” Nick presses on.  “I detect a different sort of magick signature on you, apart from the undead mojo you got going on.”

Everyone goes deathly silent and the atmosphere shifts tangibly.  Ashton mumbles, “I knew Harry smelled weird, that’s obvious now.”

“You need to learn to shut your mouth,” Niall growls.

“What’s with the dragon business?”  Ashton asks, brows furrowed.  Everyone’s attention turns to Harry and he squirms uncomfortably.

“Niall’s got a demon’s soul in him!” he blurts out.  Then he adds as an afterthought, “Sorry.”

The vampire sighs.  “Whatever.  I’m still not sold on the idea.  We could have been suffering from a schizophrenic episode.  What concerns me more is your status as the only dragon alive in this era.  Dragons were feared for a good reason, y’know.  Nick is the best source we’ve got at the moment, which isn’t saying much.”

Nick pouts.  “Rude!  I have exhausted every source I’ve got, fuck you very much.  Other than the fire magick and yummy blood scent, he’s also got the knack for sensing auras and empathy.  Young Harry here is the walking radar for changes in emotions.  Real handy for weres and shapeshifters, I reckon.”

Harry tilts his head in confusion.  “What’s emotions got anything to do with them?”

Zayn takes the question: “We tend to change when our emotions go out of whack.  That’s why it’s best not to pick a fight with one of us.  Shapeshifter are slightly better off than weres since we have purer magick that governs us.  Nevertheless, volatile emotions are the main reason why we used to live in isolated villages far away from human civilizations.  In the ancient times, some tribes were worshipped as gods, funnily enough.”

“Enough history lesson,” Michael butts in.  “What’s the deal with dragons other than the stuff you covered already?”

“Aims says that a dragon needs an anchor lest they go out of control and destroy the world,” Nick states casually.  He takes a sip of brandy before he goes on.  “Typically, they mark the person they love with this _aionia phloga_ and it serves as a contract between the dragon and the person.  It literally means ‘eternal flame’ in Greek and its shape depends on the dragon.  A dragon has a birthmark or summat in the general shape of flames and the same mark appears on the contractor, to use the term loosely.  Only the contractor can unleash the full powers of the dragon and their bond is unbreakable except by death.  Their bond isn’t just power-based though; it’s on a spiritual level as well.  Kinda romantic if you think about it.”

Niall grits his teeth.  So maybe that dream had more meaning to it.  “I dre”amt that Harry’s dragon-self massacred everyone I care about and I’ve a feeling that the list is going to grow longer since Harry cares about more people than me.  He then gave me the _aionia phloga_ thing and the pain of it woke me.”

“A demon and a dragon, eh?” Karlie muses.  “It’s either the best salvation one could hope for the worst nightmare beyond imagination.”

“Perhaps.”  Niall decides to let his wings free for the effect.  He really should have thought it out more because his carefree choice causes him to knock the chair back and he almost ends up flat on his arse.  Everyone laughs and to conserve whatever little pride he’s got left, he sweeps his wings down and floats above them.  “I’m still learnin’!” he defends.

“Your wings are beautiful,” Taylor comments.  “Aren’t the wings of a demon supposed to represent the powers and personality they possess?”

Ed nods, seconded by Nick.  “I know a witch who’s managed to call up a minor demon.  She says that the more powerful the demon, the more variety of colours they have in their wings.  Counting the transition colours, I’m seeing at least five, mate, so congrats.”

Zayn pouts.  Liam sense the jealousy and whispers, “Yours are still the prettiest I’ve ever seen.  Plus, Niall can’t even fly properly as of now.”  To back up his point, or by coincidence, Niall stumbles and nearly crashes into the floor.

“Hey no crashing.  That is mahogany!” Taylor reprimands him half-heartedly.

Niall uprights himself at the last possible moment and lands lightly on this feet.  “Sorry.  The whole flying thing is work in progress as Liam has kindly pointed out.”

“I can always coach you as a dear friend,” Zayn smirks.  “Free of charge even.”

Niall smiles.  “Good to know that I’m on your good graces.”

Taylor claps lightly.  “If everyone is done dropping bombs, I think it’s time for dessert.  Eggnog and chocolate yule log, anyone?”

Everyone voices their contentment and the dinner resumes smoothly.  Only, Harry can sense the slightly hint of fear and unease from everyone, including himself and Niall.  He can’t blame them, no not really.  He is scared of himself and all the things that he has yet to learn too.

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

“You gotta move them down at the same time, with the same force, and at the same angle,” Zayn growls impatiently for the twentieth time.

Harry looks up from his old-fashioned copy of _The Notebook_ and grimaces for Niall’s sake.  Niall and Zayn are hovering about thirty feet off the ground and Niall looks like a right tit with his hobbling act.  Neither of them look as optimistic as they had an hour ago.

“I come bearing gifts,” Ed says, showing him a tray of hot chocolate and gingerbread cookies. 

“And I come for the sake of being outside,” Ashton says.  “Think I’ll go for a run, actually.”  He then strips down to nothing unceremoniously and then takes off in to the woods.  Harry blushes and quickly picks up a steaming mug to hide his face.

“Ash is like any other weres and shifters,” another Australian voice offers.  Harry turns around and sees Michael.  “Calum and Luke were making heart eyes at each other again,” he grouses.  “I think Zayn and Liam are fucking outdoors too and Karlie and Taylor went Boxing Day shopping.  It’s silly how we’ve kept some of the human traditions.”

“Girls are weird,” Ed sums up wisely.  “Why bother going to the actual stores when you can order the stuff?  My helper just measures me up each season and I fill in some preferences and voilà, my clothes are there on the doorstep the next day.”

“Go fuck yourself, Ed,” Niall shouts, swooping down and almost flattening Michael in the process.  The green-haired boy hisses at the intrusion.  “Sorry, Michael.  My aim’s still not good.  Zayn’s trying to teach me the basics first.”

“How ‘bout you put off the killing ‘til you can fly then?” Michael suggests.

“Will do,” Niall salutes him sarcastically.  He pecks Harry on the lips before he takes off.

“Can’t escape the couples anywhere I go,” Michael complains lightly.  “It’s fascinating how smitten and warm Niall is with you.  I’ve known him for like a century and he’s never been this way.  He’s a whole new person with you and it’s a good thing.  And I don’t think just any random human coulda done it.”

“Thanks,” Harry says.

“My pleasure, really.”  Michael grins and Harry sees a flash of his elongated fangs.

In the back of his mind, Harry wonders if Michael and Niall ever had a thing.  All signs point to it, or at least that’s what Harry can gather from what he’s seen when Niall and Michael almost collided.  Their auras mixed and swirled harmoniously and it was beautiful.  So far, he’s only seen that happen with Louis and Nick, Zayn and Liam, and sometimes with Taylor and Karlie.  He can’t see his own aura so he has no idea what his and Niall’s looks like, tragically.

“You’re totally thinking about Ni,” Michael chuckles.  “Like is said: heart eyes everywhere.”

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

Michael comes back with them after New Year’s.  Niall’s aviation skills have improved and before Zayn went off to Jamaica with Liam, he made Niall promise that he would fly for at least an hour each day.  He also made Harry promise to motivate Niall with whatever means necessary as a precaution, his wink making it obvious what he was insinuating.

“Hey Josh, guess who’s back?” Michael greets as he walks through the door.

“Hey emo kid!” Josh’s hologram says.  His form walks up to hug Michael.

“What’s emo?” Harry inquires.

“Back in like the twenty-first century, there were a bunch of kids who thought it was cool to wear all-black and listen to depressing songs,” Niall supplies.  “Josh has got some data from way back when thinks it makes him cool to make ancient references.”

Michael lunges into mess up Niall’s hair.  “You’re just jealous, Ni.”

“Jealous my arse,” Niall rebuts.  Watching the two of them banter is like watching two kids on a playground, Harry decides.  Cute and harmless.

“I think Harry is starting to figure out what’s important though,” Michael comments, hand lingering on Niall’s shoulder for a second too long to be deemed as friendly.

“Oh I hoped as much,” Niall quips.  “This’ll make my proposition easier.”  In the next second, he appears next to Harry.  He grabs Harry’s crotch without preamble and Harry feels his body react to the touch.  _Traitor,_ he thinks.  “Let’s have some fun, the three of us.”

“And I’m out,” Josh informs them, his voice already fading away quickly.

“I really do like you, Haz,” Michael confesses, already behind Harry and nibbling on his neck.  “And Niall and I used to fuck back in the way.  We’ll be in tune even now and with you in the mix, well, it’ll be as close to heaven as a vampire will ever get.”

“O-okay,” Harry hears himself say.  He’ll be smart to walk away, but Niall’s his quicksand.  Besides, Michael is so fit and there’s no loss in this.

“Perfect,” Michael purrs.

They all make it to the bedroom and Harry realises belatedly that he’s the only one who is completely naked by the time they are on the bed.  Niall pins his arms down whilst Michael’s burning gaze rake up and down his body a couple times.

“He’s so responsive,” he comments, tracing up the side of Harry’s thickening erection with the tip of his finger.

“I know; it’s quite lovely,” Niall adds.  “You can make him come like twice in one night.  We’ve done three once and he screamed so loudly the third time around I thought the entire London could hear him.”

Harry isn’t sure how he feels about being talked about instead being talked to.  A part of his brain is telling him that it’s sexy, especially with Michael’s fingers wrapping around the tip of his dick.  Niall leans over to kiss him upside down and the new angle makes it more arousing and interesting than their usual kisses.

“I’ve barely touched you and you’re dripping already,” Michael accuses.  “I’m nowhere near done with you though.”

“Then go on,” Harry challenges him.

Michael and Niall share a look and the intensity sends a spark down Harry’s spine.

“Gladly.”

Michael puts his thick, red lips around Harry’s dick at the same time Niall places his dick on Harry’s lips.  Harry doesn’t know when Niall’s moved down but he can hardly care when there are more important things to worry about like being sucked off and having a dick to put in his mouth.  He’s known for quite some time that he’s a giver more than a receiver during sex.

Niall isn’t very vocal during sex but for tonight, Harry thinks that Niall is a smidge bit louder than the usual.  He pants and groans as Harry sucks on just the tip of his cock and runs his tongue along the crown of it.  One of Michael’s fingers slip inside of Harry without a warning and Harry nearly gags on Niall’s shaft.  Michael continues to blow him as he stretches out Harry’s hole and everything feels so heavenly to Harry right now.

Before he is fully aware of it, Michael turns him around and hitches both his thighs up to thrust into him.  The initial shock of it leaves Harry breathless.  After a moment, he remembers enough to try and jerk Niall off.  But the blond slaps his hand away and uses his own hand to finish.  Splashes of hot cum land on his face and Harry can only begin to imagine how lewd and debauched he must look drenched in semen and getting fucked on the other end.

“God you look gorgeous like that,” Michael mutters, fucking into him harder. 

“He does all the time,” Niall breathes out, collapsing on top of Harry.  He immediately takes Harry’s red and swollen cock inside his body.  “Isn’t that right, darlin’?”

Harry honestly can’t answer.  He knows that for vampires, pain and pleasure are interchangeable concepts but he can’t understand how Niall’s got the strength to ride him literally seconds after coming.  He squeezes his eyes shut instead and lets the sensations run wild.

“He smells lovely, no?” Niall continues.  He nuzzles where Harry’s pulse is beating erratically and grazes his sharpened fangs against it.

Michael’s movements turn quicker and rougher.  “May I?”

“Wait,” Niall commands.  Niall kisses the spot chastely before he sinks his teeth in. The pain is quickly replaced by a pleasant tingling but all of it is gone too fast.  Harry opens his eyes and sees Niall with a mouthful of blood.  The blond turns around, still seated on Harry’s cock, and kisses Michael.  It’s really hot, watching Niall snog Michael senseless like that even though Harry had never thought of these things.  He can see Niall forcing Michael’s mouth open and a trail of blood dribbling down as Niall pushes some of Harry’s blood into Michael’s mouth.

With a moan, Michael thrusts wildly into Harry and Harry screams from the sudden stimulation on his prostate.  Harry gasps and tries to scramble for something to hold on to.  Niall has turned back around and he rides Harry slowly in contrast to Michael’s rushed pace and kisses Harry softly.  The taste of his own blood lingers in Niall’s mouth but he can ignore it largely in part due to everything else that’s going on.  He grabs onto Niall’s shoulders and his fingernails dig in, enough to draw blood.  Niall only sighs in contentment and speeds up.

Harry doesn’t stand a chance, not really, and his orgasm hits him like a freight train.  His breaths come out rugged and Niall keeps on moving up and down until the last drop is spent.

“Shame,” Niall says mischievously, gesturing for Michael to get out as well.  “Guess it’ll just be me and Michael now.”

Niall positively attacks Michael and pins him down to the floor below.  Their bodies hit the floor with a resounding thud and Harry’s got just enough energy left to drag himself over to the edge so that he can see.

The sight before his eyes is so sinful and he knows that the image will forever be burnt into his memory.  It’s so erotic, Niall fucking Michael with wild abandon and Michael matching everything that Niall is giving him.  Their bodies are so in sync and the sheer sight of them is enough to make Harry’s prick twitch with interest.

As if sensing Harry’s arousal—and he probably could smell it in his blood—Niall raises his head slowly and utters two simple words: “Do it.”

Niall isn’t compelling him, and Harry can’t be mind-controlled anymore either way.  Harry ruts his hips against the silky sheets and sighs in relief as his cock fills up all the way.  Niall goes back to fucking Michael and at one point he has his fangs sunk in Michael’s neck.  It shocks Harry and he strokes himself with his hand a couple times before he comes again.  This time, the orgasm robs him of his breath and he stares blankly at the vampires going at it.  Michael rears his head back before he bites into Niall’s shoulder. 

Harry hasn’t the faintest clue how long it takes before the vampires finish up.  But by the time they do, the floor is smudges with blood like both their bodies.  He wonders briefly if Niall misses that about fucking other supernaturals.  Even though Harry is on his way to becoming a full-fledged dragon, his body still bears the human limits and being all clawed up and bloodied is something that his body cannot regenerate from quickly.

All his doubts float away, however, when Niall looks at Harry with a satisfied but empty look.  The moment they eyes meet, his eyes fill with something more tangible and passionate.  It’s like what he did with Michael was the appetizer and Harry is the main course and dessert combined.

“If ya didn’ look half-dead,” Niall smirks, “I’d pull you onto the floor and fuck you so good.  Since you are knackered, though, I’ll save that for the mornin’.”

“Thank you for your consideration,” Harry says in a flat tone.  He is flattered nonetheless, and can’t keep his treacherous cheeks from flushing.

“Eww love,” Michael jokes. He then dives into the bed next to Harry.  He captures Harry in a deadlock and messes up his hair.  “I like to cuddle afterwards.” He explains as he wraps his arms around the brunet.

“Oh of course, Mikey, go on ahead and cuddle up with my human,” Niall grouses, sarcasm all but visible in the air.  “I’ll go find me a knife to carve out your heart.”

“Nah, you love my flamboyantly coloured hair too much to quote a certain Irishman,” Michael mumbles sleepily.  “Sun’s coming up.  Sleepy time.”

Niall shakes his head but he climbs into the bed and claims the spot on Harry’s other side.  “As long as you love only me,” he whispers, lips brushing the outer shell of Harry’s ear.

“That’s a given.”

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

It turns out that the rest of the Aussies and one banshee who smells like half Scottish and half Kiwi want to have a proper winter at Niall’s expense.  Luke turns up with Calum halfway into January and Ashton turns up a couple days after them.  Niall doesn’t begrudge for them even if it means that their visit will cut into the loud crazy sex him, Harry and Michael could be having. 

“It’s snooooooooooowiiiiiiiiiiing!” Ashton bellows, running out to the back yard.  It’s not as much of a yard as it is an extension of the forest.  Snow has been covering the ground like a white blanket and Ashton runs around like a four-year-old.  True to his jaguar nature, he dives straight into the tallest bank of snow.  His cheeks are tinted red from the cold but he looks so ecstatic.

“I swear he’s got a mental age younger than me,” Luke mutters, hooking his chin over Calum’s shoulder.

“You all act like a bunch of toddlers,” Niall points out.  Luke opens his mouth to object but shuts it after a moment’s consideration.

“’Cause it’s fun to do things without thinking,” Calum explains.  “Like this!”

Calum manages to catch Niall off-guard and throws him to the ground.  There’s at least a foot of snow so Niall splutters as he sits up.

“Damn, wish being a banshee came with super strength,” he laments.

“You are so dead!” Niall declares as he lunges for the New Zealander.  Calum screams most definitely in a girlish pitch when he gets buried in the snow.  Harry laughs at them at a safe distance.

Snow war with the supernaturals thrown in is a decidedly dirty affair.  There’s snow thrown in all directions at lethal speeds and some sounds that could break glass.  Ashton and Niall team up whilst Calum and Luke stick together and build some sort of snow fort.  Michael obviously stays away from it all and stands next to Harry and watches on.

“Some mates we got,” Michael comments in a laughing tone.  Ashton is covered head to toe in snow and maybe it’s the were-jaguar blood, but he doesn’t look the slightest bit cold.

“The weres and shifters run at a higher body temp than humans,” Michael offers.  Harry blushes, breaking his gaze away from Ashton.

“How’d you know what I was thinking about?” Harry asks.  _Can vampires read thoughts?  Is it just Michael?_

“You were staring at Ashton.  Since you’re not madly in love with him, I figured it had to be that,” Michael shrugs a shoulder. “For someone as remarkable as a dragon, you are too easy to read like an open book.  Besides, I’m not a character from that god-awful series from twenty-first centuries.  I’ve heard of some girls talking about it and that’s the kind of shit books that give vampires a bad reputation.”

Harry is totally lost in the conversation but he nods anyway.  Not too far away, the snow war rages on.

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

Niall has been it off as long as socially possible.  He can’t hold on for much longer, though.  With the annual year kick-off party fast approaching, he has been swamped with all the socialites messaging him and even calling him about the party for this year.  Word got around and everyone who is someone knows that Niall has got a human for himself and that the human is quite special.

“A little party never killed no one,” Louis smirks into his flute of champagne.

“Says the person who woke up in a pot of Eleanor’s favourite hyacinth.  I don’t think she’s forgiven you yet.  I mean, if it wasn’t for Perrie and other girls holding her back, she would have torn off your limbs and put them back in anatomically wrong and painful ways,” Niall quips back.

“It was the special witch’s brew!” Louis whines, hiding his face in Nick’s chest.  “I swear there was some spell involved so that even vamps could get sloshed.”

“Just stay away from drinks you don’t recognise, is what the moral of the story is,” Zayn stage-whispers.  Michael snickers next to Harry and Harry nods dutifully.  Their friends from down under hasn’t returned to their homelands yet but Harry isn’t complaining.  He has rather gotten used to the extra crazy antics that the bunch get around to.

“Got a suit or a tux for this?” Liam asks.

Harry nods.  “Niall made me get a few, although I’ve no idea which one I should wear.”

“Something that matches Niall’s outfit and shows off your tiny non-existent arse,” Louis advises.

Harry pouts, knowing that he can’t argue with that.  No one can, when it comes to comparing butts, really.  “Which narrows it down to anything, thanks for nothing.”

Louis comes over to ruffle Harry’s hair.  “I like you all back talk-y.  Oh, just be prepared to see some human slaves standing there like decoration.  Try not to balk up and get all emotional, as heartless as that sounds.  You’ll be the talk of the night since you’ll be attending as Niall’s formal date, not just as arm candy.  No one knows that you are a dragon and we don’t intend on letting anyone know either.  Whatever insults and hateful remarks they throw your way, just shake it off, yeah?”

Harry nods again.

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

“This suit is so tight.  I feel like a knob,” Louis whines.

“Me too,” Zayn seconds the opinion.  Liam winces at their crude language.

They are taking the same limousine to the venue and Ashton and Calum have already broken out the alcohol.  Michael looks like he is debating on messing up Luke’s carefully coiffed hair and Harry knows that it will happen sooner or later.

Niall is holding on to Harry tightly, caging him in with his arms.  Harry doesn’t mind that he is all but sat on Niall’s lap in the unnecessarily large limousine.”

“Our lovebirds surely look cosy,” Michael points out, no doubt trying to distract Luke.

“So disgusting,” Ashton corrects him.  Niall gives them the finger.

“Oh don’t be so mean,” Luke chastises both of them.  “True love is nothing to make fun of—what the hell Michael!?”

Michael’s hand rummages through Luke’s hair mercilessly and everyone in the car laughs.  Luke pouts prettily and tries to salvage his hair.  “I don’t know why I’m friends with the lot of you.  The worst friend you can possibly think of!”

They bicker for the rest of the short car ride.  The sight of the venue takes Harry’s breath away.  It’s a magnificent and massive outdoor party set in a garden that is complete with a water fountain.  The statue is of a woman with gorgeous features and a bunch of figures underneath her feet.  Upon closer look, Harry sees that the woman is a vampire and the figures under her represent regular humans.  It’s vile, and makes Harry a bit sick.

“Stay calm,” Niall whispers, pulling Harry down so he can talk to him directly in his ear.  “Nothing garners a vampire’s attention like a thudding heart.”

Harry hasn’t even realised that his heart has begun to race.  He wills his heart to slow down and simmers down his rising emotions.  The two of them separate from the rest of their friends and wade through the throng of people.  Everyone is dressed to the nines and Harry can’t help but feel out of place despite the fact that he is dolled up in a crisp black suit.  He’ll never fit in with them, never.

“Keep your chin up and shoulders back, love’ Niall advises, one hand tilting his head up whilst the other one snakes around the back of Harry’s waist to bring them closer.  “I could practically hear your negative thoughts.  Whatever insecurity you have, shake it off, yeah? Just like Louis said.”

Harry bites his lip.  “I’m not used to this, okay?” Harry gestures around him.  His eyes sort of follow the motion of his hands and he sees elegantly dressed people everywhere.  They look human, sure, but the supernaturals have that aura of superiority to them that Harry can pick up on.  And the humans, they just stand there.  They hang off the arms of their masters like a bauble and it’s sickening.

“Don’t think about that now,” Niall warns him.  “I told you, you’re not my slave anything.  There’s nothing these snobby scums can say that will change my mind.”

 _But there’s always someone who’s more worthy of your time,_ Harry answers in his mind.  Instead, he says aloud, “Yeah, I’m just being silly.  Where’s the food?”

Niall smiles, oblivious to Harry’s inner turmoil for now.  “Off where the tents are set up.  We’re hoping for a clear, rain-free night but some of the witches have said that the flowers in the gardens are rejoicing or some shit like that.”

Harry cracks a smile at that.  Food is laid out in a buffet format and Harry can’t recognise more than half of it.  Niall, thankfully, points out what each dish is and Harry makes a careful selection.  From afar, he can see Taylor and a short pale girl with wild dark curls laughing, arms linked.  Zayn is staying close to Liam and Harry wonders for the thousandth time again how Zayn is more territorial than a werewolf.

“Is everything to your taste?” a woman’s voice asks. 

Startled, Harry jumps back into Niall and Niall’s cool hands steady him.  The woman is fairly tall and her skin is luminously pale.  Another vampire.  Harry is starting to suspect that vampires are flashy creatures who like to show off.  Louis seem to be a prime example of that when it comes to Nick.

“Of course, Adelaide.  Your staff’s cooking skills are as impeccable as always,” Niall says amicably.

“And is it to your human’s taste as well?” she raises a brow at Harry.

Harry flinches.  He can sense Niall’s anger rising so he quickly grips onto Niall’s forearm.  The touch somewhat calms Niall but the underlying frigid atmosphere is still there.  So Harry speaks up timidly, “I do like it; and yes, I can speak for myself.”

The woman laughs, the beautiful pealing laughter ringing out in the space around them.  “Sorry, dear.  It really is a rare delicacy to see a human with distinct free will.  No offense.”

“Your saying ‘no offense’ actually adds more offense,” Niall growls.

“Oh don’t be such an old grump,” Adelaide chides lightly.  “Or is it simply that you are hungry?  Come with me.”

They are led away from the food table and other people and towards the building that had been off-limits until now.  On the way, Harry sees a few humans—he can tell because they have empty glazed eyes void of life—who look even more lifeless than the ones Harry has seen previously.  Of course, they are accompanied by their vampires who keep a hand on the human’s body.

Their destination is a large candlelit room full of all sorts of shapes.  It takes a few minutes for Harry’s human eyes ( _Being a dragon isn’t cool all the time,_ he thinks bitterly.) to adjust to the semi-darkness.

And when it does, the sight spread out in front of him makes him sick to the stomach.

Dozens of humans are sprawled out on various sofas and there are three to five vampires attached to each human as if the human were a doll.  The vampires’ eyes are a glossy red colour and the pure expression of ecstasy and absentmindedness sends chills down Harry’s spine. 

“I thought it might offend some of my guests if the feedings were to occur in open areas,” Adelaide explains coolly.  “Would you like a taste or do you prefer the taste of your own human?”  Just then, Harry sees a young man slump over, eyes staring into nothing and the vampires who have been feeding on the man make displeased faces.  They don’t seem to be bothered by the fact that they might have killed the innocent human.

Harry clamps a hand over his mouth and sprints out of the room.  He keeps on running at full speed until he is outside and only then does he double over and sinks to the ground.  He then empties out his stomach contents onto the lawn.  The acid burns in his mouth and he gags on the taste.  He jumps a bit when a hand pats his back gently.  He holds back the vomit long enough to look back and confirm that it’s Niall there with a murderous glint in his eyes.

“Disgusting, isn’t it?” he hisses.  Niall’s fangs are showing and Harry shivers at the thought of Niall going on a rampage.  “She is one of the younger generations born in the time when human slavery became the norm.  I would have ripped the heart out of her chest and fed it to her in a second if I hadn’t been worried about you.”

“She’s not worth it,” Harry rasps out.  He wipes at his mouth with the back of his hand and winces at the slick feel of it.  There is rustling sound and in a few seconds, a dark blue handkerchief is presented to him.

“Thanks,” Harry mumbles.  He finishes cleaning his face up and hands it back to Niall.

“The lad isn’t dead.  I know it isn’t much of a consolation but it’s better than nothing, innit?’ Niall offers.  “His heartbeat was faint when I left but as long as no one else feed from him, he should be fine.”

Harry nods and stands up.  Or tries to.  He stumbles and Niall has to reach out and steady him.

“I think we need to go home early,” Niall asserts.  “Our friends can make it back on their own. Just fine.”

 

 

In less than ten minutes, Harry finds himself on his way back to Niall’s place in a car.  He thinks back to what he has witnessed and he realises that what made him so ill was because he was subconsciously reminded of what Niall used to be like.  From the cold calculated demeanour to the lack of regard for human life.  Just thinking back on it is enough for Harry to feel like he’ll be sick again.

“We’ll be there soon so please try to hold on,” Niall soothes him.  “I’m so sorry about that, by the way.  I’m never taking you to a social function like this ever again unless it’s held by someone I know personally.”

“Okay,” Harry mumbles.  He’s suddenly hit by a wave of exhaustion and he gives into it.

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

Next morning, rather night, he wakes with a scratchy dry throat and Niall’s watchful gaze on him.  As soon as Harry’s eyes flutter open, Niall swoops down to kiss Harry on the lips.

“Niall,” he protests weakly.  “I didn’t even brush my teeth last night, I must taste and smell disgusting.”

Niall laughs softly, the sound of it slightly condescending.  “Sweet naïve Harry,” he informs. “Whilst it’s true that vampires have heightened senses, it’s all hardwired to pick out the presence of blood.  The smell and taste of your blood overpowers everything else.”  To prove his point, Niall licks at Harry’s lips in a decidedly doggish manner.

“Don’t play around!” Harry scowls, face reddening with embarrassment.  “I really wanna wash up.”

Maybe it’s the whiny tone but Niall lets up and helps Harry to his feet.  Or that’s what Harry thought until Niall scoops him up bridal style and saunters over to the bathroom.

“I always wondered,” Niall remarks casually as he steps into the luxurious bathroom.  “Is it a bit disconcerting that someone shorter than you can carry you around like a child with no effort?”

Harry’s cheeks heat up even more. “Shut up,” he mumbles as he tries in vain to push at Niall’s shoulder with weak arms.  The vampire pretends to drop him before he holds on to him tightly.

 

 

“We can talk about what happened last night, you know,” Niall prompts as he lowers himself and Harry into the bathtub after it’s been filled up.  “I know I’ve said some shite about humans as a race before and I’m willing to patch things up.”

Harry stares past Niall’s truthful eyes.  He wants to, he really does, it’s just that he doesn’t know where to start.

“What you said all those months ago is true to a certain extent though,” Harry admits.  “Humans have grown insensitive to insults like that and we take it in as common fact.  You don’t know because you were human too long ago but I remember it all too well.  My parents and my sister always lived in fear of being attacked by whomever took fancy to it.  By some unwritten law, it is always the oldest child who gets sold off first.  Once all the children are sold, the parents return to ‘work’, of course.  I was sold off first partly because I volunteered.  My sister wasn’t cut out to be of this world and yet here we are.”

“I wish I could change that,” Niall says earnestly.  He lifts up one hand to cup the side of Harry’s face.  “This world we live in is the definition of a dystopia.  The larger faction is controlled by the supernaturals and yet humans are powerless to object.  It’s disgusting, really.  Yet you have opened up your heart to me when I least deserve it.  I enjoyed treating you like a toy, you know?  You were a living, breathing blood bag that was convenient.  What have you done to me?”

At this point, their faces are so close to each other that they might as well as be kissing.  Niall can feel Harry’s blood pumping though his veins from the proximity and the heat and aroma of his blood is heady.  “Why do I feel this way?” Niall asks no one in particular.

“Letting your heart decide what you want isn’t a sign of weakness,” Harry says gently.  He puts his own hand over Niall’s.

“Only those whose purity hasn’t been completely robbed away can say that,” Niall counters bitterly.

“You really are an old grump,” Harry jokes in an attempt to lighten the mood.  Instead of an answer, Niall presses their lips together in a long but oddly innocent kiss. 

After the impromptu kiss, they wash each other and manage to keep it all innocent.  There is nothing indecent about that bath except for the fact that they are both naked.  Niall is actually surprised because he knows Harry used to be trained as a sex pet.  But he isn’t about to push Harry into sex when he’s had quite the night yesterday.

Harry comes out of the bathroom looking all shy and squirmy.  Niall had taken away all the clothes except for a foreign one that he didn’t know how to even begin to explain.  It had a tie-belt like thing in the front so the best he could do was put his arms through the loose sleeves and tie the cloth at the front.

“That’s a doh-po,” Niall explains.  “Traditionally, Korean men wear it wear the pants and juh-go-ri but that takes way too much time for me without Jun-ho around.

“Are you going to make me breakfast in bed if I go back to our bed?” Harry asks, ruffling up is hair with a towel.

“I’ll get Josh to do it, yeah,” Niall answers.

Harry groans something incoherent into the plush pillow.  “Sorry, love, didn’t quite catch that.”

Blushing brightly, Harry lifts his head to mumble: “It’s much sweeter and sexier if you do it yourself.”

Niall snorts.  “Fine.  But if this house burns down to the ground, it’s on you.”

 

 

And twenty minutes later, Niall turns up with half-charred eggs, a stack of toasts and some other breakfast staples.  Josh’s image follows the blonde into the room, nagging him about all sorts of kitchen techniques.

“I am never letting you do that again!” Josh vows.  “Harry, I don’t care if you’re a sucker for romantic gestures, your boyfriend isn’t allowed to cook ever again.  This is why I always put up with the cooking whenever Niall felt like eating human food.”

“Yes sir,” Harry responds good-naturedly.  He bites into the first bit of the eggs and honestly, he wants to spit it back out.  Niall sighs loudly and spears a sausage and holds it between his teeth.  He advances towards Harry until there is no space between their lips and Harry has no choice but to open his mouth and chew on the piece of meat.  He knows the intended purpose of this particular style of feeding and he hasn’t got one objection.

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

“You two are the absolute worst,” Louis grumbles, his face half buried in Nick’s shoulder.

Nick looks away from a decrepit book.  “Love, need I remind how we fucked like bunnies in the first few months of our great adventure that is love?”

“Blegh,” Niall protests.  The momentary distraction costs him his aerial balance and he nearly face-dives into the frozen ground.  Harry’s birthday is tomorrow and Niall has been trying to think of ways to celebrate it.  Harry has kept insisting that he never really celebrated it as a pet but Niall wants to be special.  In a vain effort to do something for Harry, he’s sent the young lad away to Liam and Zayn’s place until tomorrow night.

“Is there something that dragons like as a general?”  At this point, Niall is grasping at straws.

“Shiny expensive things,” Louis deadpans.  “That’s a fairy tale classic, Ni.  If you like him maybe you should put a ring on it?”

Niall glares at his flippant friend.  “That is an ancient practice no one ever does anymore.  I like our society without the judgmental rules they used to have in the twentieth century.  The lack of freedom to be legally bound to one another was simply staggering.  Humans can be so idiotic sometimes.  Anyway, other than that super helpful comment, have you got anything on either demons or dragons?”

Nick shrugs the shoulder that hasn’t got Louis on it.  “It’s lame that you can’t do anything beyond summoning your wings and fly.  Demons should have basic control over the four elements and the ability to look into people’s hearts and manipulate their desires and seed of darkness.  And yet here you are, as much of an insensitive prick as you have ever been.”

Niall lands on the ground next to Louis on wobbly legs and smacks Louis upside his head. “Remind me why I ever deigned to take you under my then-nonexistent wings.”

“It’s me charming eyes,” Louis mocks in a horrible Irish accent.

“Bickering isn’t going to help with ideas.  How about you do the stereotypical rich sugar daddy thing and take Harry somewhere tropical like the Maldives?  Bet that boy’s never even seen a beach.”

“Au contraire,” Niall spits out as he heaves himself off the ground and back in the air.  Louis snarls in frustration as Niall dances out of his reach, “I took him to all the popular beaches in South Korea, not to mention the beaches around Taylor’s when we were staying in Rhodes Island.”

“A real beach with fine, milky sand and turquoise waters, though,” Nick coaxes.  “It’ll be fun for you too, you old grump.”

 

 

 

-

 

 

 

“You really didn’t have to do this,” Harry mumbles in embarrassment.

They are en route to Jamaica in a private jet.  It can house up to fifty people but the only occupants for today’s flight are Harry and Niall.

“I’ve been Jamaica only thrice so this’ll be fun for me too,” Niall shrugs.  “And you really need to get used to careless luxury since you’re my partner now.  I like to think that nobody knows me or loves me the way you do and nobody saves me the way you do.  You’ve no idea; it’s been so long since I’ve felt this secure around anyone.  This is the least I can do. . . . and I can say the reverse is true as well.  I’ll make sure that nobody will love you the way I do.  I love you, Harry Styles.”

Harry stars at Niall, at loss for words.  “I . . . I don’t know how I can respond to that.”

“Just say that you love me like you always do.”

“I love you.”

 


End file.
